


Challenge Accepted

by MeridianGrimm, SharaRaizel



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Challenges, Friendship/Love, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-17 02:09:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 72,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2293043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeridianGrimm/pseuds/MeridianGrimm, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharaRaizel/pseuds/SharaRaizel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kid finds a mysterious note taped to the back of his latest heist target, decoding it sets in motion a series of meetings during which he trades dares and challenges with one Hakuba Saguru.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Challenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SR: Hey everyone! I'm really excited about posting this particular fic because "Challenge Accepted" is a multi-chapter story that I'm writing in collaboration with MeridianGrimm. MG is here on AO3 as well as on FanFiction.net. She's going to be the one posting Challenge Accepted on ff.net, in case you're looking for CA there too. We've both been so excited about writing this fic together and couldn't wait to post if for you guys.
> 
> MG: We both want to give a great big "thank you!" to Crimson Amarone for inviting us both to the Poirot Cafe Forum. This story wouldn't be here without that lovely invitation.
> 
> SR: We met on the forum and found that we had similar shipping interests and having read a lot of MG's fics, I was excited about working together with her on this project.
> 
> MG: Likewise, Shara! We really hope you all have as much fun reading this as we had writing it :)
> 
> We do not own Magic Kaito or Detective Conan. Those belong to the wonderful and brilliant Gosho Aoyama.

### Chapter 1: The First Challenge

_KAITO_

Kaito hit the release button for the hang glider’s harness and stayed on his stomach for a minute, letting the cape settle over top of him as he lay on the roof. Nice. It wasn’t raining under here. He would have cancelled the heist and spared Nakamori and the task force the misery of a chase in the storm, but the Crocodile’s Revenge was only going to be in Japan for another few days. Kaito’s research on the emerald had uncovered some interesting folklore. Not enough that he expected snipers to show up – and they hadn’t – but enough to make it onto Kaito’s list. He’d check the gem against the moon tomorrow night when the heavy clouds were gone.

It was starting to dig into his chest, though. Kaito rolled over onto his back and reached into the front of his jacket, shifting to avoid the hang glider’s cross bar in the process. He pulled out the crown and let it rest on his ribcage so that the green jewel set into the front was visible. There were smaller fake jewels on either side of the center gem, exquisite etching designs on the silver crown itself and – was that a piece of paper sticking up?

Intrigued, Kaito turned the crown around and found a folded up sheet of computer paper taped to the back of the heist target. _Is it catalogue information from the museum? A photo of the previous owner? An explicative-laden letter from Nakamori-keibu saying that he’ll get me next time?_ Kaito grinned at that, imagining the inspector sitting down to write that indignant message and then throwing out a dozen copies because he’d pressed the pen down so hard it went through the paper. Gloves still on, Kaito lifted the tape up from the crown and opened the sheet.

A mixture of printed Romanized letters stared back at him, incomprehensible. Kaito frowned. It couldn’t be a mistake. The crown had gotten so much attention that a prank note couldn’t have been overlooked. _A code, then?_

A clap of thunder reminded him of where he was. Kaito tucked away the heist target and the note back into his jacket and debated whether to just break into whatever building he had landed on or try to fly among the lightning-streaked clouds. Mmm… The building it was. Kaito disguised himself as a security guard and took the elevator down to the bottom floor. He rode back to Ekoda with a bus full of people coming home from the Kid heist, and he resisted the urge to whip out the note and decipher it even though he was in public.

 _Actually, reading it in a public setting might be a better idea,_ Kaito thought. _If there’s a tracer in the paper, I really don’t want to take it back to the house_. He ended up getting off the bus a dozen stops early and changed into a police officer disguise. Kaito quietly picked the lock on the local library doors and hid the note between pages 13 and 14 of _Hate Him but Love Him, A Novel_ in the romance aisle. It was a horribly written book with an even worse premise that had hardly ever been checked out of the Ekoda library since its initial release. It was the safest place Kaito could think of to leave it in public. After a quick trip ‘round to Jii-chan’s to pick up some equipment, Kaito returned to the library and broke in again. He checked that there was no tracer in the paper with his tools, but decided it wouldn’t hurt to be careful and took the message and the book to one of the deserted reading corners, settling into a comfy chair.

The code didn’t fit any substitution trick he tried. Then he thought the key was that the letters were in a variety of font sizes, but that resulted in nothing after he grouped those together and couldn’t form any real words out of them. Some of the simpler codes he’d learned as a child reading adventure books didn’t produce anything coherent either. After two hours, he set the letter on the desk under the lamp, rubbing his eyes. Then he snatched it up again and squinted at the paper as something unusual jumped out. In limited light, all of the characters looked like they were in a uniform black, but under a bright light, there were some slight differences between them. Some of the letters were lighter than others, almost like the printer had been running out of ink. There were varying levels of dark gray, though, more than could be accounted for by a faulty printing device. He grouped them by shade on scrap paper – giving him ten clusters – and started again.

Make subgroups based on font size. Rearrange letters to make English words. Put words in order from lightest to darkest fonts, biggest to smallest letters. Add spaces and punctuation where necessary and get:

 

_Kaitou Kid_

_You are invited to a private tea party at ten pm this Thursday on top of the Mizushima Engineering building. It is high enough that you can arrive and depart by hang glider if you so choose. I will provide appetizers and tea, but you are welcome to bring your own if you do not trust me. Again, this is a private party, so no police will be present. I hope to see you there._

 

The invitation was unsigned, but Kaito didn’t need a signature to know who’d sent a message coded in English requesting a tea party. Hakuba Saguru. The High School detective had given an especially enthusiastic chase tonight, Kaito remembered. He’d disabled traps, dodged razor cards, and ran like nothing else mattered. Now he was inviting the phantom thief he’d sworn to capture to a private get-together.

The next morning in class, Kaito’s mind was still running the same circles it had been repeating the whole night. He didn’t need to rearrange any letters to know that “trap” was written all over this. The chance to meet with Hakuba, as Kid, without a heist – well, it certainly appealed to his curiosity, as it was meant to. However, Kaito was not stupid enough to overlook the very obvious possibility that this was just the next ploy in a long line of attempts to catch the Kid. Kaito could very well show up to the Mizushima building and find the place surrounded by police cars and helicopters. Things worked out better when Kaito was the one picking the location. He could plan escape routes and know which ducts connected to which rooms and set up tricks beforehand. Now, however, the building could be monitored, and even in disguises he could be photographed and tracked. There was no jewel to be gained from this, no promise of Pandora. Really, there wasn’t any reason Kaito _should_ go.

Some little part about this whole thing niggled at him, though. It was the lack of signature. If Hakuba were writing this under orders from Nakamori, he wouldn’t feel the need to omit his name. However, if the note was genuine, then Hakuba was using Kid’s own powers of deduction to keep himself anonymous, should anyone else discover and decode the invitation. There was very little chance that Kid wouldn’t guess the sender if he deciphered the code, but the detective could easily deny to law enforcement that he’d written it. This faux anonymity, the idea that Hakuba might be hiding this from the other officers, could suggest that the offer was real.

Or was Hakuba just trying to make him think that? _This_ was why he didn’t normally hang out with detectives. The possibility of using reverse psychology or reverse-reverse psychology was always there. Hakuba was clever, despite his track record where Kid was concerned. How was he supposed to tell if Hakuba was being serious or not? It could really go either way.

Kaito stole a look over at Hakuba a few desks down. The detective was calm and unruffled, paying attention to the teacher as she explained the homework assignment. _Okay,_ he thought, _let’s assume for just a moment that the note is genuine. What does Hakuba want?_ There was something fascinating about such a morally upright individual summoning a thief for tea and dessert. Kaito’s sheer, unbridled curiosity was the only reason he hadn’t immediately vetoed the whole idea. He couldn’t even develop any decent theories about the purpose of their meeting. Maybe… nope, literally nothing was coming to him. And it was driving him mad. Kaito needed so badly to _know_ that he just wanted to drag the detective off to the men’s room and pick his brain apart until the blond couldn’t use it anymore. Was that weird? It sounded kind of sadistic when put in those terms, which wasn’t how he’d meant it at all.

No, but seriously. What did Hakuba want with a thief, besides the obvious? _Well~,_ a persistent voice in his head reminded him for the 30 th time, _the only way you’ll ever find out is at 10pm on Thursday._ If he skipped the tea party, it was unlikely that he would receive another invitation. And then he’d _never_ know. Real or fake, Hakuba wouldn’t discuss the invitation with anyone (plausible deniability and all that). Especially not with Kaito unless he confessed to being Kaitou Kid himself –which was NOT happening. The only way Kaito was going know what Hakuba wanted was to actually accept the invitation and go to the half-Brit’s tea party.

Finally, Kaito managed a few theories better than the ones that involved aliens and robots. _Maybe Hakuba wants to quiz me about my civilian identity._ Kaito had no problem knocking Hakuba out with sleeping gas if that were the case. _Well, maybe he’s planning to confess his undying love for the Kid._ Heh, no. Stuffy detective. _Maybe Hakuba needs help with something and can’t go to the police._ Ooh. Kaito knew that feeling all too well. _Shit. What if I don’t go and he needs help? He’s an annoyance, sure, but I don’t want to see him dead._ He didn’t hate the detective; just disliked that he was Hakuba’s current target. _Guess I have to go, then._

Kaito had known, since the beginning of this self-argument, that he was going to go. It was only a matter of conning his logical side into thinking this was a good idea. After all, kaitou never did what was good for them, and Kaito’s inquisitive streak ran miles wide.

 

_SAGURU_

When Thursday night finally rolled around, Saguru was a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. He’d been covertly observing Kuroba’s actions over the last two days. The prankster magician’s usual cheerful masks had been in place, but Saguru had seen the tenseness that sometimes crept into the other teen’s shoulders when his guard relaxed. Kuroba had been nervous and had had his eyes on Saguru when he’d thought the detective wasn’t looking.

Saguru couldn’t help but feel a little smug. Kuroba should have had no reason to be nervous unless he really was Kid and had received the note attached to the most recent heist target. It wasn’t definitive proof, but Kuroba certainly hadn’t been his usual boisterous and annoying self the day before when he, as “Kid’s biggest fan,” should have been celebrating Kid’s latest victory. It would appear that Saguru had unnerved the thief with his invitation to tea. Heh. But the kaitou needn’t fear. Saguru had no intention of going back on his word in the note. Tonight there were clear skies, unlike the night of Kid’s heist, and besides the occasional routine patrol car, there wasn’t a police presence in the vicinity. It was the perfect weather for Kid to use his hang glider too, and no signs that this could be a trap. Saguru had chosen this particular location because it was as accessible and escapable for Kid and he had prepared things to at least provide some sense that this wasn’t going to be a trap.

Saguru cast a critical eye over the set up on the roof. The Mizushima Engineering building was the tallest building in Ekoda’s industrial zone and had a rather nice rooftop lounge for its CEOs and executive employees to use on breaks and for casual social gatherings. The faux-grass lawn and potted trees created the illusion of a calm oasis in the sky while overlooking the lights of the neighboring shopping center a few blocks over. The elegant white patio furniture set seemed to glow in the light of the full moon. Saguru had painstakingly set out a well-distributed amount of lanterns to illuminate their meeting place as well as to provide enough shadows so that Kid could at least relax without having to worry about his identity behind the hat and monocle being revealed (even though Saguru was 98.9 percent sure that Kuroba Kaito was in fact the Kaitou Kid). He’d also taken care to provide a number of appetizers as promised, both English and Japanese, making sure that none of the sushi samples had fish in it, knowing of Kuroba’s ichthyophobia from Nakamori Aoko. A pot of water was kept on a hot plate well away from anything that would catch fire.

After altering the arrangement of the plates holding biscuits, cookies, and cakes, Saguru took a seat and snapped open his pocket watch.

9:58:56 PM.

It was almost time.

Saguru was tempted to cast his gaze up at the skies, but knew that if Kid thought that this was a trap, the thief would be more cautious than usual. This meeting went against the Kid’s usual routine, and was a complete role reversal in many respects. Kid was the one that was supposed to leave behind riddle notices for the police and detectives to solve and face off with them in a battle of wits over a jewel at a location of the thief’s choosing. Now the tables had been turned and it was one of Kid’s detectives challenging him with a coded note and destination. The irony was not lost on Saguru, but he felt that it was rather poetic in a way. What better way to call out the Kid than with a notice of his own? Saguru’s lips twitched minutely as he wondered how long it had taken Kid to figure out the solution to crack his note?

10:03:43 PM.

Kid was choosing to be late. With a put upon sigh, Saguru poured himself a cup of hot water from the pot and selected a packet of Earl Grey tea, letting the pouches’ herbs absorb into the warm liquid. When he felt that the tea was well mixed, he took a sip, eyes closing in pleasure and appreciation for the warmth of the brew and the blend of flavors on his palate, even if the hot water burned in his mouth a bit.

When he opened his eyes Kid was lounging in the chair across from him. Saguru wasn’t surprised. He knew that Kid had been waiting for an opening. The thief was all about flair and making an entrance and his were either ostentatious to the point of absurdity, or so low profile that no one noticed his presence until he was right in front of the intended target.

“Good evening,” Saguru greeted, setting his cup down on its saucer.

“Tantei-san,” Kid nodded, his usual coy smile flashing, but showing a lot more teeth than it normally did.

Saguru wordlessly offered Kid the pot of hot water. Kid nodded, ignoring the cup at his place setting and pulled out one of his own from some hidden pocket on his person, but allowed Saguru to pour the water for him. Kid had to have been watching from somewhere and seen that Saguru had used the same pot of water for his own tea, which he’d just drank from so, logically, the water in it couldn’t be drugged. Saguru then gestured to the selection of teas, coffees and hot cocoa packets, but was not surprised when Kid brought out his own packet of a particularly rich kind of hot chocolate. Kid was being predictably cautious. Saguru hoped that the thief would be less inclined to be so suspicious at (hopefully) future meetings.

They sat in silence for a few minutes each sipping at their respective drinks.

“Well, Tantei-san?” Kid demanded softly. “Why am I here?”

“You don’t have to be,” Saguru shrugged. “Your coming and accepting my invitation was entirely up to you.”

“Let me rephrase then,” Kid scoffed. “Why did you invite me here?”

Saguru aimed a level stare at his rival, doing his best to hide his amusement. “Curiosity.”

“Curiosity?” Kid repeated. “About what?”

“About you. About whether or not you were as capable of solving puzzles as you are at devising them. About whether or not you would come. If you’d stay or not. If you’d be inclined to repeat the experience and have future meetings of a similar nature.”

Kid was silent, his sharp violet-blue eyes piercing as they studied Saguru intently. Saguru took another calm sip of his drink, as if he met with internationally wanted criminals for tea all the time.

“…What do you mean when you say other meetings of a similar nature? I still haven’t discovered the ‘nature’ of _this_ particular meeting, Tantei-san.”

“I’m sure you are well aware, Kid, of how hard it is to find someone that challenges you on an intellectual level. Before I started chasing you, you were practically running circles around the police at heists, even more so nowadays.” Kid inclined his head, following Saguru so far.

“When I came to Japan it was with the intension and the hope of meeting someone that would challenge my abilities as a detective. Of finding an intellectual equal as well as a rival. You are both. Since arriving in Japan, I’ve only met two, possibly three, others that are in the same league as myself – and I don’t say that to be boastful. It is simply a fact that I have a high IQ and have been certifiably tested and been confirmed as a genius. You are obviously one of those two persons, and high school detective Hattori Heiji of Osaka is the other, but his hot-bloodedness and tendency to react before taking in the situation as a whole rather… undermines his intelligence sometimes. The possible third intellectual equal is Edogawa Conan and his exponentially growing potential as a detective. It is almost frightening how sharp that boy is for a seven year-old.”

“…Still don’t know why I’m here, Tantei-san. Why not meet with Hattori or Tantei-kun if you’re looking for someone to converse with on an intellectual level?”

“While I’m sure our conversations would be quite engaging as fellow Holmes enthusiasts, Edogawa is still just a child. And besides the obvious distance between Tokyo and Osaka, Hattori-kun and I… have a tendency to get under each other’s skin, to put things politely. Ironically, I find you to be more bearable, pranks aside that is. And you challenge me in ways neither of my fellow detectives ever could.”

“And the purpose of this meeting is?” Kid asked.

“How would you feel about meeting like we are now under neutral terms and conditions that we can both agree upon.”

“And do what?” Kid looked intrigued now.

“Whatever we choose to do,” Saguru shrugged. “Games, puzzles, riddles, converse about current events, critique Nakamori-keibu’s latest rant.” That last one got a snicker out of Kid.

“Are you attempting to befriend me, Tantei-san?” Kid asked, leaning back in his seat, sprawling slightly.

“Perhaps,” Saguru said, allowing a small smile.

Kid nodded, gaze assessing Saguru again as he took a sip of his cocoa. “And these terms and conditions you spoke of?” he inquired.

“As far as the basic terms go, these meetings are to be of a private and confidential nature. I don’t tell the police or any of my few confidants, and you don’t tell any of your accomplices about these meetings or reveal any of information we may learn or share about each other. While we may be rivals, a thief and a detective, by day and at heists, at these meetings we’re just two intellectuals comparing notes and matching wits. I won’t try to uncover your true identity and you don’t use your knockout gas or any other items in your prankster arsenal on me. Anything and everything we discuss during these meetings remains between the two of us and cannot be used against each other outside of a meeting. For instance, if I were to learn that you are allergic or have an aversion to something like, oh, say fish –” he got a narrow eyed look from Kid for that one “– then I wouldn’t use that against you in a heist because that is not something I had learned outside of this meeting and I honor the agreement to keep such information classified. And the same goes for you. If you were to learn something about me, like… the fact that I like to make tea cakes or something like that, you are not allowed to make fun of me for that small personal fact during your heists and in heist notes.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Kid agreed, snickering. “Now about these games… I find them to be terribly cliché. You solve my riddles all the time and I had to decode your note – which I assume is going to become a trend for our meetings?”

“Correct. Each future meeting will occur after a heist. I’ll leave a coded clue for you either with the heist target or somewhere on the scene in the event that I cannot hide the clue note with the heist item.”

“Sounds fun. Would you perhaps reconsider the ideas of children’s games like the riddles and puzzles planned for these meetings and agree to a series of challenges instead?”

Saguru cocked his head to the side and considered it. It was true that he was always solving Kid’s riddles and puzzles written in heist notices and tricks at the heists themselves. “What sort of challenges?” he asked.

“We’ll start out with simple ones like word and phrase games on a trial basis and see how it works and go from there,” Kid grinned. “We’ll have to fulfill each other’s challenge by our next meeting and have proof that we completed the challenge issued to us. If one of us succeeds and completes the issued challenge by the time of our next meeting they get to ask the challenger one question and get a truthful answer in return. If someone fails to meet the conditions of their challenge, they have to undergo a penalty challenge at the next meeting.”

Saguru smirked, leaning back in his seat and considered Kid’s proposal. “Sounds interesting. What kind of word or phrase game are we going to try first?” he asked.

“It’s a fairly simple one,” Kid grinned. “I challenge you to work at least one quote from Arsene Lupin into a conversation. You need to record yourself saying it without anyone noticing as proof. Bonus points if you can work a quote in during one of your cases.”

“All right,” Saguru agreed, his lips pursed but head nodding, accepting the challenge. He wasn’t as familiar with Maurice Leblanc’s Gentleman Thief as he was with Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, but he did have a collection of the Lupin books somewhere in his library. Now as for a challenge for Kid… “I challenge you to use the word ‘abecedarian’ in your next heist notice.”

“Done,” Kid smirked, all confidence. Somewhere in the distance, the bell at the local clock tower that Kid had saved last year tolled the late hour. “Well, Tantei-san, I have to say that this has been a surprisingly enjoyable meeting, but it’s time for all good kaitou and tantei to retire for the evening. I look forward to our next meeting, and seeing the results of our challenges. Until next time.”

With a tip of his hat and a shit-eating smirk, Kid rose from his seat and disappeared behind a smoke bomb – thankfully a normal, non-knockout-gas-ridden one.

Saguru smiled with satisfaction as he rose from his seat and set about clearing away the evidence of their meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SR: And that's chapter one of Challenge Accepted! Why don't we tell everybody who wrote/is writing what?
> 
> MG: I'm writing Kaito's perspective, and he wanted an even MORE complicated code than what Saguru left for him. He doesn't want me to tell you that he read that entire horrible romance novel because he needed to see if anyone would ever check the book out, in case he wanted to hide things inside the pages. He was miserable, poor kaitou. He doesn't know what "abecedarian" means, so he's in for a surprise next chapter!
> 
> SR: And obviously I'm writing Hakuba (I'm sure to those who've read any of my other DC/MK works before find this to be a big surprise, right?) He's being particularly devious right now and I know he's anticipating to see how Kid fulfills his word challenge. That was kind of fun to come up with. At first, MG and I were going to have Kid and Hakuba testing each other's wits with riddles and puzzle challenges, but I felt that it had been done before like in Icka M Chif (mischif)'s Shades of Grey series (which is totally where I found my inspiration for wanting to do this fic). So one evening I was tired after attending classes and came up with the crazy idea that Kid and Hakuba decided to challenge each other to a series of dares instead.
> 
> MG: Thanks for reading. :) Please leave a comment below - every bit of feedback is helpful!
> 
> SR: We hope that you enjoyed and are looking forward to Chapter 2! Feel free to suggest any kinds of challenges you'd like to see our two boys go through! Until next time then!


	2. The Word Challenge (Part 1)

### Chapter 2: The Word Challenge (Part 1)

_SAGURU_

When Saguru retired for the evening he let out a relieved sigh, plopping down gracelessly onto his bed, nerves fried and frazzled around the edges. He hadn’t wanted to admit it earlier and had done a valiant job locking away his uncertainty with his usual conviction while he’d been making arrangements for the night, but he’d been nervous as hell. He’d been afraid that somehow in spite of all the precautions he’d taken they’d be discovered. Next time he’d pick somewhere less publicly accessible, preferably without security guards in the building. Maybe a hotel roof would suffice next time. He’d been worried that a security guard at the engineering building would decide to go against protocol and take a break up on the roof where he and Kid had been having their meeting.

A part of him was angry that he was going through with his plans to get closer to Kid. Another part was thrilled and excited, reveling in the slight rush of adrenaline coursing through his system that came with doing something that was either dangerous or a dark grey area in his moral code. He was a detective after all. A detective was supposed to catch and arrest the thief, not invite him to tea. And then there was the part of him that was always thinking, always trying to puzzle out the mystery before him. And there was no greater mystery than the one that was attached to the Kaitou Kid.

The magician thief was an enigma with contradicting morals. He was an oxymoron personified. He never kept what he stole, so why steal in the first place? “For the thrill of it” and “because he can” many believed, but Saguru wasn’t so sure. He’d been capturing and studying criminals since he was twelve. He was known for asking about their motives. “Why did you do it?” had become the famous phrase that his fans and clients expected to hear by the end of his investigations.

Even as a small boy, Saguru had wanted to know why people did bad things. His mother always liked to joke that it was because of the curse that his father had put on him with the name Saguru, which meant “to search” in Japanese. Since his birth Saguru had always been a curious child and tried to find out the reasons behind things. When he became a detective, it just wasn’t enough to catch the criminals and know how they did it. He needed to know why they’d become criminals and why they did the things they had done in the first place.

Most cases that Saguru came across had clear motives, but even the few complicated ones where he was almost inclined to feel sorry for the perpetrator were resolved and simplified in the end with a clear motive. They were desperate. They were angry. It was for revenge. It was an accident. It was because they were scared. Their spouse/lover had cheated on them. They needed the money. That person had been a monster and had to be stopped. They were sick in the head and need psychiatric help. It was self-defense. It was a crime of passion…

Kid was nothing like any of the common criminals that Saguru usually dealt with. He just couldn’t swallow the lie that Kid only stole because it was fun. There was something else to Kid that Saguru was just not getting. Kid had a “no one gets hurt” policy. Kid abhorred guns (with the exception of his custom card gun) and the use of violence (though he'd knocked out officers himself during his early heists, presumably while he was still developing the knock-out gas). Kid was a gentleman thief that had a bloody fan club that consisted of at least 75% of Tokyo’s youth population and about 38% of it’s adult population. People genuinely liked the thief. Outright rooted for him at heists even.

Admittedly Saguru had been greatly indignant and horrified to read those poll figures. Criminals should not have fan clubs and followings. No one celebrated every time a serial killer claimed another victim. No one cheered when banks were robbed. So why did they flock to support Kid’s crimes? Half of the owners of the jewels and gems that Kid targeted had been thrilled and excited, happy to have the attention that Kid brought them with his heists.

Saguru simply had not been able to fathom it all. He’d chased Kid with intense vigor and resolve trying to figure out the man (teen) behind the act. In the beginning Saguru had only seen a cocky obnoxious trickster who delighted in riling up the police and making fools out of them. It wasn’t until after he returned to Japan barely in time for the Nightmare heist that he began to catch glimpses of that truth he was searching for and started to see the man (teen) behind the masks and tricks and attitude.

Saguru had been able to put the pieces together quickly and figured out the truth behind Nightmare and Jack Connery at the scene. The police had ruled Jack Connery’s death a heroic one, dying in the line of duty in the process of retrieving the stolen pair of black opal earrings, the Dark Knight. Saguru hadn’t been able to bring himself to correct them. It had been the first time he had held back and failed to fulfill his duty as a detective to reveal the truth. Something had stopped him that night as he watched the devastated little boy cry over his father’s dead body. Something inside him didn’t want Kenta Connery to learn the truth about his father. He didn’t want the kid to loose the insurance money that would help pay for his surgery.

Kid and Kuroba were different after that heist for a time. Kid still was an obnoxious trickster, but his smile seem a little more forced, his drive to please his fans appeared a little more excessive, and Kid didn’t always draw out his chases with him or Edogawa (when the boy was around). At school Kuroba was more subdued, still ever smiling, but played fewer pranks and seemed tired. Saguru found himself in the rare position of empathy. He knew that Kid had tried to save Connery that night. Kid’s glove had been clutched in Connery’s grasp and a metal playing card had been embedded in Nightmare’s mask to prevent anyone from knowing who Nightmare had really been. Saguru suspected that Kid had snuck into the evidence locker, because forensics team hadn’t been able to find traces of DNA on Kid’s glove or Nightmare’s mask.

When things had started to get back to normal, Saguru started to notice things around the Kid Task Force’s headquarters and at heists that he hadn’t bothered to pay attention to before. Whenever an officer had a birthday, got promoted, married, or had a kid; a plate of cookies would show up on their desk from an anonymous someone and that person would somehow find themselves spared from the worst of Kid’s pranks if they were attending a heist on that day. Sometimes Kid would congratulate them in person during the heist if he saw them. Cups of mostly-fresh coffee would sometimes be waiting on their desks during late nights that were spent deciphering heist notes.

These niceties towards the police and gifts of appreciation led Saguru to conclude that Kid did have some kind of respect for the officers that chased him. That Kid was not an entirely bad person. Kid was a gentleman and made sure no one got hurt during his heists. Kid had even gone out of his way on a few occasions to help someone. It just didn’t make sense to Saguru why someone who was apparently a decent and kind person fundamentally, would steal just for the fun of it. Saguru knew there had to be more to Kid’s story and motive than an adrenaline junkie getting his kicks in. It seemed too simple for someone so complex.

When they had first met, Saguru had asked Kid why he stole. Kid had told him that it was his job as a detective to figure out why. Even after chasing the irritating thief for a year, Saguru still hadn’t figured out Kid’s motive for stealing. He had pieces of the puzzle in his hands, but he knew he was missing some and had yet to figure out how the ones he did have fit together. He wasn’t learning anything new at the rate things were currently proceeding.

Recently Saguru had come to the conclusion that if he was going to learn more about Kid, he’d have to ask the thief again himself, and only if he figured out enough with his own deductions. But he didn’t have enough information to make any deductions stronger than weak, theory-based hypotheses. He couldn’t do that if Kid didn’t talk to him and supply hints. And as things stood the thief was never going to talk to him, even if Saguru succeeded in capturing and successfully arrested him. If Kid got caught, then Saguru would never learn what had led and continued to motivate Kid to steal and return his chosen heist targets.

Therefore, Saguru was left with only one plausible conclusion. He had to gain Kid’s confidence and befriend him. Kid wouldn’t open up to someone that chased him, but maybe he would let something slip to someone he grew familiar with and became comfortable around. Hence the meetings. The meetings would provide that opportunity to get to know his rival better, to get a better insight on his character and possibly his thought processes. And maybe, just maybe, Saguru could finally learn why the Kaitou Kid stole only to give back his heist targets.

 

_KAITO_

Kaito was breathless when he landed on the rooftop across the city. This game of challenges was going to be _exciting_. He could hardly wait to get started. Shrugging off the glider, he did a few cartwheels on top of the investment firm he’d landed on, and then switched to backflips when those weren’t satisfying enough. Kaito had so much energy right now he could explode. He sprinted around the edge of the building, trying to burn some of that enthusiasm off. _I’ll never get to sleep at this rate_. He couldn’t bring himself to care, though. His hands were itching for pen and paper, needing to work out that next heist note, which Hakuba Saguru, of all people, had dared him to write. Oh, this was going to be the cleverest one yet.

When Kaito stopped feeling like his chest was going to break out of his body, he slowed down and took a swig of water from a bottle hidden in one of his pockets. It had been so long since anything had truly surprised him in the Kid persona. The potential for armed opposition in the form of snipers had kept him paranoid and therefore prepared for anything. He had lettered backup plans from Plan A to Plan M. Hakuba, however, had laughed at that vigilance and surprised Kaito anyway. Kaito hadn’t been prepared for an invitation to let loose, and the fact that it was the straitlaced detective who’d issued the temptation, well… the idea was that much more enthralling.

That wasn’t to say that Kaito was going to forget himself in these challenges. Keeping his true identity concealed was more important than some fun. There would be no personal information, no hints, nothing that would suggest that Kaitou Kid was Kuroba Kaito. He was wild, not stupid.

The reckless exhilaration faded as he wondered again at the detective’s motives behind this tantalizing invite. The line about curiosity and wanting someone to challenge him was well delivered in the moment, but now it didn’t strike Kaito as _enough_. If Hakuba was bored, a thief wouldn’t be his first option for entertainment, or even his tenth. No, there was something else there, deeper than Hakuba’s need to sharpen his mind. Hakuba had been different since the appropriately dubbed “Nightmare Heist”. While Kaito hadn’t been at his best, observation-wise, in the first few days following the disaster, he had picked up on a shift in the detective’s behavior. He was quieter, for one, which originally put Kaito on edge, thinking that Hakuba had found something that had been missed when he tinkered with the evidence. After some time had passed and Hakuba still hadn’t come forth with another dramatic speech about how clear it was that Kaito was Kid, Kaito had relaxed. The only way to ascertain his motives was to continue attending these clandestine meetings and listen carefully.

The magician hauled out his sketchbook when he finally got back to the Kid cave. Filled with building plans, notes, phone numbers for hardware stores, and sketches of his gadgets, this behemoth of a notepad was the unabridged version of every heist he’d ever held. The atlas-sized scrapbook of documents was the thing that would get him sentenced, if ever found. He flipped to one of the pages marked by a pink post-it-note, fingers sliding carefully over the list of jewels with unusual mythology, his potential targets. “Who wants to go next?” he asked. “I need to write you a love note with a special word.” He tried it out. “Abecedarian.” It sounded mystical, authoritative.

He scooted over to the computer and opened a search engine. “Abecedarian. Adjective meaning ‘arranged alphabetically’ or ‘having to do with the alphabet’. Hmm.” The detective wasn’t going easy on him. Kaito pulled the sketchbook into his lap, scanning the list of gems again. “The Fire-Breathing Dragon, a ruby; the Virginal Diamond; the Second Star, also a diamond; the Emerald Promise; Hamako’s Rose, another ruby…” The list filled the whole page, but there were several names crossed out for the jewels he’d already checked. Which one would make for an appropriately well-thought-out heist note?

Kaito was still musing over that very question the next day in class when Aoko thumped his desk, jerking him out of his thoughts. “Were you even listening to anything Aoko just said?”

He put on a grin. “Do you want the nice answer or the true answer?”

“BaKaito. Are you busy Saturday? Aoko’s going to a museum with a couple friends.”

“A museum?” Kaito tried not to perk up visibly. Natural history museums had jewels, sometimes. “Sounds like fun, as long as it’s not,” he lowered his voice, “an _aquarium_.”

“It’s not. So you’re definitely in, then? You promise?”

“Yeah.”

“Great!” Aoko all but skipped over to Hakuba’s desk. “Hakuba-kun, are _you_ busy Saturday?” Hakuba looked over at Kaito, his expression unreadable. Kaito didn’t miss the fact that there was a Maurice LeBlanc book tucked discreetly in Hakuba’s book bag next to his desk, nor that there were several pages bookmarked. It seemed that the detective was taking the challenge seriously. _As he ought to_ , Kaito thought. The magician had spent most of today’s history lecture thinking about what punishments he could dole out if Hakuba was unsuccessful in his dare. By the end of the period, the teacher had been stammering nervously every time her gaze caught on his wicked smile, thinking that Kaito was about to pull something big during class.

Hakuba didn’t lose his blank expression until he turned back to Aoko and smiled briefly. “I have no plans that couldn’t be put off a day. Which museum did you have in mind?”

“The National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno district. Will we see you there, then?”

“It would be my pleasure. I’m familiar with the Kahaku, which opens at nine I believe.”

“Right. See you there.” Aoko moved to find another victim, but Kaito came up and tapped her on the shoulder.

“What was that for?”

“Aoko doesn’t know what you’re talking about.” She blinked entirely too innocently for Kaito’s comfort.

He frowned, suspicious. “Did you make me promise because you knew I wouldn’t go if Hakuba-kun agreed first?”

“You should really make an effort to be nice to him, Kaito. He’s your classmate.”

“Ahoko, that wasn’t an answer.”

“Yes, Aoko made you promise so that all of Aoko’s friends would go somewhere together without _one of them_ being an idiot.” She stuck her tongue out at him. Kaito rolled his eyes and went back to planning, wondering which buildings in the city had exactly twenty-six floors.

 

_SAGURU_

Saguru checked the time on his pocket watch as he exited Ueno Station and began walking to the National Museum of Nature and Science – the Kahaku, as it was commonly known – which was only a few blocks from the station. At about two minutes before nine, the museum came into view and after coming around to the front end Saguru spotted Nakamori Aoko and Kuroba Kaito waiting at the bottom of the front steps with three others.

He recognized Koizumi Akako, Momoi Keiko, and Takumi Haruka from his class. He was familiar with Koizumi and Keiko because they were good friends with Aoko and were regulars in the audience at Kid heists, but he only knew Haruka because she sat in the desk in front of him. He also knew her because she had asked to take his picture for the school paper when he’d first started attending Ekoda High. She was rather quiet and soft-spoken in comparison to Keiko and Aoko, but he found her to be an agreeable and polite person to talk to the few times they’d been assigned as partners in classes.

“Hakuba-kun!” Aoko called out happily when she spotted him.

“Here at nine o’clock on the dot,” Kuroba snorted after glancing at his wristwatch. “Figures.”

“At least we can always count on him to be on time,” Keiko giggled. “G’morning Hakuba-kun!

“Good morning, Keiko-kun.” Saguru bowed and greeted the rest of the crowd too.

“Morning,” the girls chorused back. Kuroba only yawned, nodding his head.

“So now we’re only waiting for –” Aoko started.

“Sorry we’re late!”

Saguru looked back the way he’d come and spotted two boys – also from their class –running to join them.

One was Saiki Haru, Ekoda High’s sports superstar. Rumor had it that back in middle school, Saiki and Kudo Shinichi had been great rivals on the soccer field before the infamous Detective of the East entered Teitan High and quit playing. Saiki was also the son of Officer Saiki Fume of Division Two, whom Saguru had worked with numerous times during Kid heists.

The other boy was Hayashi Raito, a good friend of Kuroba’s in the drama club. Saguru wasn’t nearly as familiar with Hayashi as he was with Saiki, but Hayashi had come to the detective to consult on the costuming for a Shakespearean play. Saguru had been impressed with Hayashi’s eye for color coordination, attention to detail, and use of varying textiles.

The two boys joined the group, panting. “Don’t worry. You’re not late,” Keiko giggled. “Hakuba-kun only just got here himself. If anything, you’re only a minute or two late.”

“Hey, Raito,” Kuroba spoke up. “Where’s your girlfriend? I thought you said you’d bring her with you so we could meet her.”

“Sorry,” Hayashi laughed. “I’m afraid she’s come down with a cold. She wanted to come, but she was feeling well.”

“Aww!” Aoko sighed. “That’s too bad. Aoko really wanted to meet her. She’s from Shibuya, right?”

“Shibuya?” Koizumi repeated, raising a delicate eyebrow. “That’s on the other side of Tokyo from Ekoda. How on earth did you two meet?”

“We met at a drama competition last spring,” Hayashi explained.

“Oh!” Kuroba exclaimed, bringing his left fist into the palm of his right hand in an “a-ha!” gesture. “Is she the redhead you were making puppy eyes at every time you saw her?”

“I was _not_ making puppy eyes at her!” Hayashi exclaimed, red faced. “And yes, that’s her. Her name is Kanami Mariko.” Saiki and Kuroba snickered at the teen’s denial.

“Well, now that everyone’s here and the museum’s open, let’s go!” Aoko cheered, leading the way up the steps. Everyone else fell in line amiably.

After paying the entrance fee in the Japan Gallery, their group headed up to the top floor with plans to work their way down and out to the Global Gallery that was in another building behind the Japan Gallery. Saguru kept at the back of the group, watching their reactions to the various exhibits. The girls enjoyed looking at the butterflies and animals displayed on the third floor and awed over the minerals in the “Active Japanese Islands” exhibits. Saguru kept a particular eye on Kuroba in case the teen got any ideas about the shinier minerals. Kuroba and Saiki found the fossils and the skeleton of the Futabasaurus in the North Wing on the third floor entertaining, as well as other dinosaur exhibits on the other floors.

The second floor was more to Saguru’s tastes, seeing the various kinds of animals that were indigenous to Japan, the exhibits on DNA and evolution, and exhibits showcasing Japan’s history and people. When they returned to the first floor, Kuroba made a lot of cracks about Saguru having a clock fetish when they went through the “Temporal Hours and the Japanese Clock, Wadokei” and “Modernization of Clock Industry” exhibits. After one particularly lewd comment, Aoko knocked him upside the head and scolded him something fierce, much to everyone else’s amusement.

Things proceeded much the same in the Global Gallery, starting on the top floor and working down, as they moved from exhibits on the natural world and those of science. Saguru and Aoko managed to keep Kuroba away from the underwater sea life exhibits that might have set the ichthyophobe off. Kuroba was fine with whales and any marine life that wasn’t a fish, but Saguru and Aoko were not taking any chances. None of their other six companions were aware of Kuroba’s phobia and Kuroba probably preferred it that way.

They had a rather late lunch at roughly two o’clock at the restaurant back on the main floor. “Hey!” Aoko exclaimed after they paid for their meals and were making their way to the staircase for the three basement levels. “There’s a special exhibit going on right now!” Saguru looked up and spotted the banner announcing an exhibition on the occult and mythical.

“Let’s go check it out!” Keiko exclaimed, bouncing excitedly.

They paid an additional fee to go inside the special exhibition hall and made their way through displays ranging from Japanese mythologies and global creatures from sea monsters to witchcraft. Saguru had seen similar displays at historical sites in England and America pertaining to the witch trials. He noticed that Koizumi found these exhibits unnerving. She looked uncomfortable standing beside the displays and depictions of the trials and burnings, but was equally transfixed, remaining behind while the others moved on to a display about various dragon myths.

“Horrible, isn’t it?” Saguru commented softly as he stepped up beside her. Koizumi stiffened and Saguru had to give her credit for not jumping in surprise. “Whether they meant good or ill will, any and all that were suspected were persecuted,” Saguru continued, staring at a rather gruesome rendering of a “witch” tied to the stake burning. “Funny what humans will do in order to preserve what we believe to be natural and reject what is unnatural.”

“…My great grandmother was burned for being a witch,” Koizumi said so softly that Saguru barely heard her. “My grandmother was almost burned too.”

“I’ve heard Kuroba accuse you of being one,” Saguru said, raising an eyebrow in inquiry.

“Not accuse,” Koizumi smirked. “It’s not an accusation if it’s true.”

The other eyebrow joined its fellow up near his hairline before smiling and nodded. “Fair enough.”

“…You’re not joining to deny the existence of witches, Mr. Logical Detective?” Koizumi scoffed. “I thought you didn’t believe in magic.”

“I don’t,” Saguru stated, matter-of-factly. “But I believe in the practical uses of medicinal herbs and their uses in the practices of witchcraft and the wiccan arts. Like any other religion, I recognize the practices of witches and the wiccans. Just because I myself don’t practice or believe in something doesn’t mean that it isn’t meaningful and real for those that do. If you say you are a witch, Koizumi, then you are, and I respect that just as I do Aoko for being a Shintoist and Kuroba an Atheist.”

Koizumi looked shocked, more than likely not having expected that sort of answer. “And what are you, Hakuba-kun? What religion do you practice? Or are you an Atheist like Kuroba-kun?”

“I’m a Christian.”

“Just Christian? Not Catholic, Baptist, or Anglican?”

“Just Christian,” Saguru chuckled. “I’m not particularly religious, but I do believe in God and attend mass when I’m home in England with my mother who is a Catholic.”

Koizumi watched him with a considering gaze before smiling. “I see.”

“Akako-chan! Hakuba-kun!” Saguru and Koizumi looked up to see their classmates waiting for them at the end of the hall. Kuroba was looking at Koizumi with some concern, undoubtedly noticing that they were still by the witch trials exhibit. The others were just looking on curiously, probably wondering what was holding them up.

“Shall we, Koizumi-kun?” Saguru asked, offering her his arm.

“Why not?” she shrugged with a smirk, looping her arm through his.

They were halfway to the others when Koizumi bumped his shoulder with hers. “Akako.”

“Pardon?”

“You may call me Akako,” she said regally, her nose upturned slightly in the air.

Saguru nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips. “All right, but only if you call me Saguru.” Akako leveled an amused glance at him before slipping her arm from his and rejoining Aoko.

 

_KAITO_

Kaito wanted to know what made Hakuba Saguru tick. Pun intended. This museum outing was a rare opportunity to observe the detective outside of classroom and heist settings. He’d seen Hakuba annoyed, amused, bored, reserved, and a teensy bit friendly (once), but he wanted to know what else was there. Perhaps he would let something slip that would reveal his motives.

Unfortunately, it became clear fairly quickly that Hakuba was doing some examination of his own. By dawdling a few steps behind, the blond had a perfect view of everyone else in the group. Kaito didn’t want Hakuba to catch him looking, so he threw himself into the museum experience and took mental notes when the detective was distracted with the exhibits or their other companions. In the “Active Japanese Islands” exhibit, though, he didn’t even glance over once. Kaito could practically feel Hakuba’s eyes glued to him as he skimmed the minerals display case disinterestedly and glided past. Puh-lease, like he was going to do any Kid-themed reconnaissance with the detective around. Kaito wasn’t an amateur.

He got decidedly nervous when Koizumi and Hakuba loitered in the witch trials exhibit. The two people just short of having proof that he was Kid were getting chummy, if the arm offered by Hakuba was any indication. If Koizumi was letting Hakuba in on her otherworldly talents – which may or may not be the case – he rather hoped that flying on broomsticks was not brought up by either party. The last thing he needed was for the alibi she’d given him to crumble. Ah, and she better not mention any truth potions either.

After the special exhibit, Saiki-kun realized that he’d left his mobile phone in the restaurant and Raito offered to go back with him to look for it. The girls decided to make a group bathroom trip while they waited for them, so Kaito found himself alone with Hakuba outside the ladies’ room.

“So. Any interesting cases lately?” Kaito didn’t really care, but the half-Brit kept looking at him like he expected Kaito to make a break for the precious stones.

Hakuba tilted his head thoughtfully and turned to stare across the hall. “There’s a personal mystery that I made some progress with earlier in the week, but now I have to prepare for the next piece.”

Was that a reference to their rooftop meeting? Whether it was or not, Kuroba Kaito shouldn’t know something that only Hakuba and Kid did. “What, so it’s like a puzzle rather than a murder?”

“Something like that.”

Hakuba straightened abruptly and crossed the hall to where a little girl about five or six years old was sitting on one of the benches. She was trembling but clenched her fists in her dress, too brave to cry. Kaito watched him kneel down to her height. “Are you lost? Where’s your adult?” It wasn’t that loud in this section, so Kaito could hear them clearly.

“Daddy’s been in the toilet for a long time. What if the toilet monsters got him and pulled him in? I want my daddy!”

“Well, I will personally go check for you, okay? What’s your father’s name?” Kaito noticed that Hakuba remained perfectly calm and didn’t correct the girl’s assumptions.

“Daddy’s name is Daddy.”

He chuckled, and Kaito stared. Hakuba, chuckling in a non-sarcastic way? Was the detective nerd actually comfortable with kids? That was a surprise. “Okay, what’s your name, then?”

“Yamaguchi Kyou, six years old.”

“Alright, Yamaguchi-chan, I’m going to bring you to my classmate Kuroba Kaito and he’s going to make sure you stay safe while I go check the men’s room for your father.” She nodded and took his hand as Hakuba walked her over. “Kuroba, meet Yamaguchi Kyou.”

“I heard.” He pulled a rose out and presented it to her grandly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, young lady. Have you been enjoying the museum?”

She lit up. “Yeah! The dinosaurs are the best. I want to be a brontosaurus when I grow up. Dad says I have to eat my vegetables if I want to get strong, but I don’t like them.”

Peripherally, Kaito noticed Hakuba stroll into the men’s room. “Kyou-chan! All brontosauri eat vegetables!” He lowered his voice and leaned in conspiratorially. “I’ve always wanted to be a pterodactyl, you know. Give me a set of wings and I’d be the happiest dinosaur around.”

“Do you eat your vegetables, Kuroba-san?”

“Pterodactyls are carnivores, but since I like veggies, I guess I eat both.”

Hakuba emerged from the restroom, a carefully blank expression on his face. “Kuroba, why don’t you show Yamaguchi-chan that card trick you showed me?”

Kaito frowned. “Hakuba, I haven’t –”

“You know, that _long one_ ,” he emphasized. “It was _incredibly_ diverting.” Oh. _Oh_. He’d come out alone, so something was wrong with Kyou-chan’s father. Hakuba wanted him to buy time so the girl wouldn’t get more worried while the detective got help.

“Ah, that one. I remember now.” Hakuba flashed him a brief look of thanks before whipping out his phone and race-walked off in the direction of the admissions desk. Kaito pulled out a deck of cards and began telling a story about the crafty jack of clubs, stringing together smaller tricks that went along with the narrative, which he made up on the fly.

The girls emerged from the restroom and joined them, Keiko and Takumi-chan cooing over Kyou while Kaito explained that Hakuba was looking for her father. He continued the story and Kyou was so entranced that she didn’t notice Hakuba returning with a security guard, both of whom entered the bathroom. Hakuba looked worried. Kaito kept his poker face intact while he regaled his five audience members, realizing that he was quickly running out of plot and needed to stretch things out longer, if the problem was that serious. Raito and Saiki-kun came back and joined the listeners right about when the jack of clubs surprised the court by kissing the king of hearts.

Unluckily, little Kyou noticed the EMTs rolling a stretcher past and promptly burst into tears. “Where’s my daddy?” The guards who’d showed up to man the door glanced at each other. A few police officers entered the scene too, which suggested something more sinister than an accident.

Hakuba rejoined the group, pulling off a pair of red stained gloves before concealing them in his voluminous pockets. “The monsters tried to take him, Yamaguchi-chan, but he got away. He’s going to be fine, but he’ll have to go to the hospital first.” Kaito heard one of the inspectors order his junior officers to go with security to check the cameras for suspicious figures that could be concealing a blunt weapon. Kaito fought to keep his eyebrows from shooting up. It _was_ a murder attempt, then.

A tall policewoman approached the group to take Kyou to the hospital. The child didn’t want to leave and clutched Kaito. He promised to walk her to the car and she reluctantly acquiesced. Everyone else from Kaito’s group except for Hakuba followed behind. Kaito glanced back one last time to see him talking to the inspector and gesturing at the security camera. It was only when Kaito got home that he realized that, despite not figuring out which buttons to push on Hakuba, he’d learned quite a bit about the detective on this little excursion:

Not so stuffy that he couldn’t have a good time. More intuitive than he let on – he’d known there was a real problem rather than just a little girl upset because she didn’t have her favorite toy. Good with kids. Not just courteous, but genuinely compassionate.

Fascinating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MG: And that's chapter two! Kid's got a killer heist note coming up and we're looking forward to their next encounter.
> 
> SR: Hakuba's also got to work in a Lupin quote during a conversation and have it recorded at some point next chapter too! Both boys are sure in for an interesting time.
> 
> MG: Definitely!
> 
> SR: This chapter was a lot of fun to write. For me, I really got to delve into Hakuba's thought processes, especially in the opening of the chapter about his motives for meeting with Kid. A reviewer - Jasnah on fanfiction - had pointed out to us that Hakuba's motives were unclear and him being the one to propose these meetings was out of character for the usually straight laced detective. It gave the both of us a lot to think about. MG did a really good job keeping me away from my dark side on this one. Hopefully we've cleared up a few questions and have managed to keep Hakuba satisfactorily in character. Thanks Jasnah!
> 
> MG: Yeah, this chapter was great. Kaito doesn't really know Saguru that well outside of the classmate and detective-thief roles, so it was nice that he got to see the person behind the pocket watch, so to speak. We've added a couple cool OCs to balance out the group dynamics and to give Kaito and Saguru some guy friends. Hopefully they'll be recurring in the background of Challenge Accepted, so look for more about them as we go. Developing new characters is a fun experience too.
> 
> SR: Also, The Kahaku is actually a real museum in Ueno Tokyo. We (me more so than MG) used the English version of their website for reference, but the special exhibition about the occult was totally made up. It was just a great way to bring Akako into the story because we both love her as a character and wanted to use her for more than exposition and as just a background character. Besides, if Kaito has Aoko, then Saguru should have Akako, even if we're not shipping them as couples, they make great bffs. ;)
> 
> MG: The case at the end was a total surprise to me. Suddenly there was a little girl in distress and two teenagers who were good with kids, and it just wrote itself. I was incredibly relieved that it was a non-lethal case. Please review! Every bit of feedback is wonderful :)


	3. The Word Challenge (Part 2)

SAGURU

When Saguru walked into the Kid Task Force’s main office that afternoon he heard the typical commotion including Inspector Nakamori Ginzo’s excessive swearing that usually accompanied a Kid heist – or in this case, the delivery of a heist notice. The Inspector’s language was exceptionally foul today.

“He’s been at it for three hours now.”

Saguru looked up and noticed Officer Saiki Fume who was looking rather amused about the chaotic state of the office. Officer Saiki looked like an older version of his son, Haru, only with brown eyes instead of the unusual green that Haru had (a feature inherited from his mother perhaps?).

“Has he now?” Saguru mused, following his classmate’s father. “What has Kid done this time?”

“He’s written his heist notice in English,” the officer informed him. “That’s why you were called in.”

“You mean I was actually brought in on purpose?” Saguru asked with a smile that widened when Officer Saiki winked at him. “I have to admit, this is nicer than finding out from a newspaper or an officer working under my father.”

“Well we could really use your help this time because we can’t make heads or tails of some of it. One word in particular is stumping our translators,” Officer Saiki admitted.

 _I bet I know which one_ , Saguru thought wryly, trying to keep his collected smile from morphing into an amused smirk as they drew closer to the meeting room. He found himself fiddling with the tape recorder he’d been keeping in his pocket for the past week. He had yet to fulfill his challenge in slipping a quote from the Arsene Lupin books into a conversation and now that Kid had delivered a heist notice he was running out of time.

“Hakuba-kun is here, Keibu,” Officer Saiki announced as they entered the meeting room.

“ABOUT DAMN TIME!” the Inspector roared. “Get in here, boy, and tell me what the hell this says.”

Saguru took a copy of the heist notice that was being passed around and read it aloud in English before repeating it in Japanese.

“Easy as ABC, 123, Darling, you and me~  
Abecedarian traps befall the unwise  
The mathematician counts two stars in the skies  
And on the luckiest day I take the prize.”

“Well?” Nakamori demanded. “What the bloody hell does it mean?”

“Give me a moment,” Saguru frowned as he began to pace, staring at the note.

“Easy as ABC…” Bastard. Kid was telling Saguru that he’d found the challenge easy, but it had nothing to do with the heist notice itself other than cleverly hinting at a line from the Jackson Five’s “ABC” song… but the line was wrong. The line from the song was supposed to be “ABC, 123, _baby_ , you and me.” So the word “darling” had to be significant.

Saguru had to admit that Kid’s incorporation of the word “abecedarian” was rather good and when paired with the word “traps”, it gave Saguru an idea as to possible locations for the heist. The third line was obviously a hint as to what the target of Kid’s heist would be and the time while the fourth gave the date…

Saguru pulled out his laptop computer and began checking out possible locations and targets based off the clues in Kid’s heist note. He vaguely noted that Nakamori was getting rather impatient, but the whole room was watching him with rapt attention even though groups had gathered together to try figuring out the notice on their own. Saguru went over the information in the various windows he’d pulled up, closing some of them as he dismissed and narrowed things down. Then everything seemed to click into place.

Clever bastard.

“I think I know what he’s targeting, where, and when,” Saguru finally announced, walking over to plug his laptop into the projector to show the room his findings.

“Please, do enlighten us,” Nakamori grumbled.

“The first line we’ll skip over for now and focus on line two,” Saguru announced, “‘Abecedarian traps befall the unwise.’ This gives us clues as to the heist’s location. We’re looking for a building with twenty-six floors, one for each of the letters in the English alphabet, hence why the notice is in English and not Japanese. This line also suggests that each floor will be booby-trapped in some way come the night of the heist. Line three: ‘The mathematician counts two stars in the skies.’ This means two things: one is the time of the heist, dusk. Of course there are different degrees of dusk, but due to the notice I believe that Kid is referring to Civil Dusk which happens when only the moon and a few stars are visible in the sky.”

Saguru pulled up an astronomy website that showed and listed the times the sun and moon rose and set around the world and the differing degrees and times of dusk. The page he currently had up displayed the solar and lunar cycles for Tokyo, Japan.

“Around this time of year, the sun starts to set around 5:20-5:25. But in order to determine the exact time, we’ll have to figure out the exact day that the heist will occur on. That day is given to us in line four, which reads, ‘And on the luckiest day I take the prize’. In western culture, the number seven is considered the luckiest number. Kid is going to hold his heist in a building that has twenty-six floors on October 7th, at 5:42 PM, which marks the end of the civil twilight and marks the time of civil dusk on that particular day.”

The room burst into applause, praising his ingenuity in translating the heist notice.

“And what about the heist target and location?” Nakamori asked, almost grudgingly. “You said you knew the what and where as well as the when.”

“I was getting to that,” Saguru smirked. “The first line in Kid’s notice is from the Jackson Five’s song _ABC_ , but one of the words is wrong. The key is the word, “darling” that Kid uses instead of “baby”, like it is in the song. Note that the word is capitalized. Why might that be?”

“Because it’s important?” suggested one of the newer and younger officers – Kenta Mike.

“Because it’s a _name_ ,” Saguru grinned, relishing in the feel of excitement that was welling up in the members of the Task Force. Every one of them was hanging on to every word he said. “Back home in London there is a popular children’s story about a boy that never wants to grow up that lives in a magical world called Neverland. In this story he brings three children with him to this world: Wendy, John, and Michael _Darling_. And to get to Neverland, Wendy, John and Michael are sprinkled with pixie dust so that they can fly to the second star on the right and straight on until morning.”

“The two stars in the third line,” Officer Kenta piped up.

“Exactly,” Saguru nodded, pulling up a couple windows to display his findings. “Starting a few nights from now on the sixth, the Tokyo Disney Hotel, with its _twenty-six_ floors is displaying a number of jewels and gems that relate to some of Disney’s most popular films, including the Second Star Diamond named after the star in Peter Pan. In summary, Kid is targeting the Second Star Diamond at the Tokyo Disney Hotel on October 7 th at 5:42 PM.”

The room burst into applause again. Even Nakamori looked pleased, ready to take a crack at Kid again now that they knew what, where, and when Kid was going to strike.

“That was amazing,” Officer Kenta said to him as the meeting came to a close. “How on earth do you do it?”

“Kid is an enigma,” Saguru smiled ruefully. “One must suspect anything and everything with him. Sometimes is comes to the point that he has the ability to make one paranoid at all times.”

“Surely you don’t suspect his hand in everything, though, right?” the officer laughed.

“That’s where most of his pursuers go wrong.” Saguru smirked. _Finally_. “ _I see him everywhere, because he is everywhere._ It doesn’t do to underestimate him. He’ll get you when you least expect it.”

“I suppose that’s true,” the officer laughed. “He did deliver his heist notice to Nakamori-keibu in a can of alphabet soup, after all.”

Saguru nodded, clicking his recorder off as he exited the offices.

 

KAITO

There was no truth in that saying that idle hands did the devils’ work. None whatsoever. It was all really a gross exaggeration. The fact that Kaito was bored out of his mind had absolutely nothing to do with the sheer volume of mischievous activities he carried out the Tuesday of the heist.

He was just itching for the school day to be over already so he could work out the kinks still left in the pranks for the letters S and Q. Quite honestly, he should have finished all prep work over the weekend, but there had been a travelling magic show on the other side of Tokyo and Kaito had caved, even knowing that the museum trip with Aoko and company would eat up a chunk of his weekend too. On Monday night he’d slogged through two nights worth of homework because he knew he’d be getting nothing scholastic done on Tuesday.

The spring-release on the newly produced invention he liked to call the Final Denominator was still on the fritz. The Denominator was like a straightjacket in that it went around the torso and trapped the arms too. It had the same effect as wrapping lots of rope around the victim from hip to shoulder. There was a keypad with numbers and symbols on the front to open the device, which would force – _encourage_ taskforce members to work in pairs in order to press the buttons. The fun part, though, was that Kaito had left the key codes for the individual Denominator devices right on the front… in the form of an algebraic equation. Specifically a _quadratic_ equation with fractions, which was why it was on the 17th floor for the Q level. Hey, if they weren’t going to learn anything about catching tricky kaitou, they might as well have another kind of educational experience, right?

Speaking of education, he was in class, not at home. Kaito stepped away from the mental space where he was recalibrating a Final Denominator and looked around. Oh. Everyone was putting away books and leaving in groups for the school grounds. It was lunch break, then. His eyes were drawn to the four people who weren’t moving: Takumi-chan, Keiko, Koizumi, and Hakuba. The first two girls were clustered around Hakuba’s desk, while Koizumi sat behind him, doodling what looked suspiciously like a pentacle in her notebook.

“C’mon, Hakuba-kun, the papers only said that a heist note had been delivered, not when or where it was going to be. You know, don’t you? Can’t you tell us?”

The blonde rubbed his chin, trying to conceal a sly smile. “I don’t think I should divulge confidential police information, Keiko-kun,” he teased.

“Hakuba-kun!” Keiko exclaimed dramatically. She must’ve been practicing the scandalized, aghast look. “It’s not like we’re going to post the information on the internet. We’re just curious. If you don’t feel comfortable revealing the specifics, you could give us the riddle to figure out for ourselves.”

“It’s written in English and rather difficult to translate in some areas.”

“But you can try, can’t you?” Keiko smiled cutely and blinked more often than strictly necessary.

Hakuba just looked bemused at the obvious attempt. “I _suppose_ it wouldn’t do too much harm to say that the jewel is the Second Star Diamond.”

“Awesome! You’re the best!” Both girls pulled out their phones to look up info for the diamond.

Hakuba chuckled. “The police are going to release the information in a few hours anyway. You needn’t try to extract it from me.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“I was joking _._ If the police fail to publicize a heist, then Kid does it himself, so there’s no harm in me revealing the date and location. It’s tonight at the Tokyo Disney Hotel.”

“Saguru-kun,” Koizumi spoke up, her low voice sending a shiver through Kaito, “would you care to go to lunch now?”

The detective turned around in his seat to smile. “Of course, Akako-kun. There’s an oak tree outside with a picnic table underneath it that is a favorite place of mine. I was thinking we could eat there.”

First name terms? _First name terms?!_ This was a problem. Kaito all but ran from the classroom, trying hard not to think about the two people, two _formidable_ people, who wanted him captured in some way. He wasn’t distracted long, though; as he ate lunch with Aoko, Hayashi, and Saiki-kun, Kaito returned to his mind space to fix the Denominator.

“BaKaito, have you been listening?”

“Mmm?” The other three at the table were staring at him, presumably looking for a response.

“I _said,_ Saiki has a soccer match tonight and Hayashi-kun and I were going to attend. Are you going too?”

Kaito mentally shivered at the thought of soccer balls, reminded of a certain diminutive detective, but didn’t let the flash of fear show. “Thanks, Aoko, but I promised some other Kid fans that I’m friends with that I’d be there tonight. Saiki-kun, when’s your next game after that?”

“Friday. Can you come?” Kaito nodded, mentally qualifying that if Hakuba’s note interfered he would make every effort to see some of the star player’s other matches.

 _Finally_ the school day was over and Kaito shot out like rocket, bounding home in almost record time and flicking the lock on his bedroom door before pushing the painting aside. He worked up until his watch alarm went off, signaling that he should start packing up for the heist. He wrapped up the Denominators and the traps for the S floor – the rest of the lettered pranks were already in place at the hotel – and changed into his Kid attire.

Kaito started his mischief forty minutes earlier than the time implied by his heist note because he planned to watch the chaos for a while before actually taking the Second Star. He had outdone himself this time, knowing that the owner had secretly moved the jewel from the first floor, where it was supposed to be displayed, to the top floor after the heist note had been decoded in an attempt to keep it safe. He’d cleared the hotel’s guests and staff earlier in the afternoon with a well-timed fire alarm, which ended with everyone locked out until the police showed up.

In order to make the evening more entertaining, Kid had placed unsurpassable obstacles on every stair level, alternating between the two sets of stairs at either end of the hotel. This forced the police officers – who were informed of the owner’s plan too late – to cross every floor in its entirety before they could climb to the next level and get to the gem on the top floor. The thief arranged it so that the elevators were conveniently inoperative. By the end of the heist Kaito had come up with three favorite floors:

L was for lions, and while Kid wasn’t dumb enough to let loose _real_ African cats on Nakamori and company, the liberal use of Simba costumes in the dark hallway combined with hidden speakers playing a variety of lion growls on repeat made the officers scramble to the next floor in a hurry.

Q was for quadratic equations, and it was an absolute joy to watch the Denominators wreak havoc among the taskforce members.

W was for Wonderland, and the props that Kaito had liberated from the grand Alice and Wonderland storeroom transformed this floor – not dedicated to guest rooms, but to the hotel’s ballroom – into a labyrinth of strange illusions.

After the heist (and the cleanup, which Kid had done during the proceedings as the officers cleared each level), Kaito settled onto a rooftop close by. Popping open the box in his pocket, Kaito removed the slip of paper he’d seen tucked discreetly inside the display case as he palmed the Second Star. Like the previous note, it was in code in English letters. Whether Hakuba was uncomfortable with creating a code in Japanese, or whether he was simply following Kaito’s lead with the English heist note, was yet to be seen. The decoded message read:

 

_Peter leads the way and Big Ben chimes the time_

_Tick Tock, the white rabbit might be a little late_

_so the Mad Hatter sits to have tea with_

_the Marvelous Man of Iron’s terrorist foe._

 

Hakuba had written the riddle after receiving the heist note, it seemed. In the Disney movie, Peter had stopped with the children on Big Ben at… 8:15pm. Kaito checked his watch. _That bastard._ His watch display read 7:43. _I didn’t think it was going to be tonight._ Kaito wouldn’t have considered himself the rabbit either, but the emphasis on a _white_ rabbit made it obvious that Kid was the one who would be late.

Kaito slipped the glider back on, but where to go? He had thirty minutes to solve the riddle and get to wherever the meeting was taking place. The last line was clearly the location, but Kaito didn’t know any men made of iron. Unless it was referring to a statue? That didn’t seem right, though, because people didn’t put statues in closed-off places where they wouldn’t be seen, so it probably wasn’t the meeting place Hakuba was suggesting. He looked closer at the riddle. Hmm. Hakuba would know not to capitalize “marvelous” if it wasn’t supposed to be and – ah! He really _was_ mirroring the heist note, wasn’t he? Where Kaito had capitalized Darling as a reference to a name, Hakuba was emphasizing that Marvelous was a proper noun also. The Marvel comic company? That felt right, though Kaito honestly couldn’t imagine the detective reading superhero comics. He’d pick everything apart. The film rights for Marvel’s Avengers characters had been bought by Disney recently, though, so it fit with the theme for the evening.

The combination of “Marvel” and “Man of Iron” brought on the obvious conclusion of Iron Man. Kaito didn’t recognize the “terrorist foe” description, but he’d only seen the first two movies. Time for a field trip, then. After returning to ground level, Kaito hurried to the public library in disguise and did a quick Internet search on one of the computers. The third villain in the Iron Man films was a terrorist called the Mandarin. What place in Tokyo could that be referring to? Another Google search… there was a Mandarin Oriental about twenty minutes from the heist site. Hakuba was probably waiting on the hotel’s roof. Kaito checked his watch: 8:06. That gave him nine minutes to make a trip that took about twenty minutes by car.

Well, it’s a good thing kaitou were in the habit of performing miracles.

 

SAGURU

Saguru was tempted to pace. It was 8:15:00 on the dot and Kid hadn’t arrived yet, but that was expected. Kid was good, but Saguru knew that the thief wasn’t _that_ good. Even a phantom thief had human limitations. Instead, Saguru reclined in his seat and looked around the rooftop. He’d set things up on the sheltered side of the hotel roof tonight to keep the high winds at bay. The Mandarin Oriental was one of the tallest hotels in the area, so it should suit Kid’s needs perfectly for that damned glider of his. The hotel was also owned by a good friend of his grandfather’s who prided himself on the hotel’s five-star rating and reputation for being one of the most luxurious hotels in Japan.

Under the pretense of meeting with a high profile figure who wished their involvement with a detective to be anonymous – which was technically true – the owner had been quite amiable when Saguru had approached him about using some of the hotel’s amenities such their kitchen. He’d even been loaned a room of his own to use on the top floor for free, but Saguru knew that Kid wouldn’t agree to meeting in an enclosed space, and the hotel rooms here didn’t have a balcony, so meeting in an actual room was out of the question.

Saguru had had to set things up ahead of time on the roof before Kid’s heist, and hid his riddle inside the Second Star’s display case well before hand. It was a good thing he had too, because the owner had moved the diamond just before the heist without informing the Inspector or any of the other Task Force members. And then there was the mess that Saguru had gotten ensnared in on the T floor during the heist itself. The floor had somehow been replaced with trampolines, and trip wires had been spread about like spider webs. He’d gotten so hopelessly tangled that by the time some officers had managed to get him down he’d heard that Kid had already stolen the jewel and left. Saguru had to hurry back downstairs, get in a cab, and hurry back to the hotel as soon as he had been able. With only fifteen minutes to spare, Saguru had somehow managed to bring the food and drinks up to the roof and set everything up before the appointed time in his coded riddle note. Saguru had felt a huge surge of pride and satisfaction at his accomplishment and briefly wondered if this was how Kid felt after finishing preparations for his heists.

He checked his pocket watch again, 8:18:43. Three minutes late. Saguru hoped that his riddle hadn’t been too difficult. Was his Marvel and Iron Man clue too vague? Now Saguru wasn’t a comic fan by any means, but he did enjoy the movies. The Mandarin had been the main villain in the newest film and therefore was the freshest villain in Saguru’s head at the time he’d written the riddle, but now that he thought about it, the first film had featured a terrorist group the Ten Rings, and Ivan Vanko from the second film could be considered a terrorist too… but technically Iron Man 1 and 2 had been made before Disney bought Marvel, so the Mandarin was the first Disney Iron Man villain, so hopefully Kid would be able to figure out which terrorist foe Saguru was referring to.

He glanced at his watch again. 8:20:34.

“And that’s why I found your riddle a little ironic.”

Saguru snapped his pocket watch shut and looked up to see Kid reclined in the chair opposite him with a smug, lazy smile on his face, much like he had during their first meeting.

“Oh?”

“You’re the one who’s rather obsessed with time, Tantei-san,” Kid said, pointing at the watch as Saguru put it away. “Assigning me the role of the white rabbit and yourself the Mad Hatter in your riddle was quite amusing. Shouldn’t it be the opposite?”

Saguru blinked, surprised, and thought about it for a moment before chuckling.

“I suppose you’re right, but to be fair, you are a full five minutes late, and I am and have been the host for our two meetings thus far. And some would argue, should they ever learn that I am inviting a thief to tea, that I have gone mad.”

“You’re right,” Kid quipped. “You are mad. Absolutely bonkers.”

“Ah, but all the best people are, would you not agree?” Saguru returned, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as he rose his cup in a mocking salute to Kid and took a sip of his tea.

Kid laughed delightedly, with a hint of surprise.

“True, true. Now, to the business at hand,” Kid continued in a mock-serious tone. “I have completed my challenge incorporating the word “abecedarian” into my heist note, as you’ve no doubt seen. How have you faired?”

Saguru pulled out the old tape recorder with the cassette tape. Before he could turn it on, however, Kid swiped the recorder out of his hand, rewound it, and hit play.

“ _Hakuba-kun is here, Keibu_ ,” Officer Saiki’s voice announced.

“ _ABOUT DAMN TIME! Get in here, boy, and tell me what the hell this says,_ ” roared Nakamori’s unmistakable voice.

“Thought so,” Kid snickered. “You slipped in your quote during the heist note debriefing.”

“You might want to fast-forward. I don’t say the quote until the end,” Saguru glared at Kid. There had been no need to snatch the device from him.

“But I rarely get to listen in on these things,” Kid pouted, fast-forwarding a bit past the low mutterings going on while Saguru was mentally figuring out the heist note. “Let me have my fun.”

Saguru huffed, but made no move to take the recorder back from Kid. While they listened to the tape, they enjoyed the snacks and tea that Saguru had set out. It pleased him immensely that even though Kid always waited until Saguru tried something, Kid was at least touching the dishware and eating the food that he’d prepared this time around.

“ _The first line in Kid’s notice is from the Jackson Five’s song ABC, but one of the words is wrong. The key is the word, “darling” that Kid uses instead of “baby”, like it is in the song. Note that the word is capitalized. Why might that be?_ ” Saguru’s voice asked, crackling on the tape.

“ _Because it’s important?_ ”

“ _Because it’s a_ name.”

“Really?” Kid snickered. “National Treasure? I didn’t take you for a movie buff, Tantei-san, but all the movie quotes and references you’ve made recently make so much more sense if that’s the case.”

“My mum’s fault.” Saguru shrugged with a sigh. “She likes a good movie marathon now and then, and I suppose I just developed an interest in film along the way. They’re a good way to unwind from cases and escape from reality for a short time.”

Kid paused, tea up halfway to his lips, and looked at him curiously.

Saguru ignored the look as the recording of the meeting came to an end. When his quote finally came up, Kid chuckled, shaking his head.

“Of course you’d quote Ganimard. I’d be disappointed if I didn’t know you as well as I do. I was rather hoping you’d quote Lupin. That was the challenge after all.”

“You never specified which character. Just that I had to quote something out of a Lupin book,” Saguru pointed out with a narrowed gaze. “You’ll have to be specific next time.”

“Speaking of our next challenge, what did you have in mind?”

“Considering what month it is,” Saguru mused, “and its celebrated holiday, Halloween, I figure our next challenge should revolve around that. We both know what a master of disguise you are, but what happens if disguise is not an option? My next challenge to you, Kaitou Kid, is to hold a heist without disguising yourself in anything other than your white uniform. No impersonating officials or citizens. You are to hold your heist as the Kid and no one else. It needn’t be your next heist, and it can even be on Halloween if you so choose. What do you think?”

 

KAITO

“I think we need to be a bit more specific for the parameters,” Kaito replied, thinking about all the mayhem he could get up to on a Halloween heist. It was on a Friday this year, after all, so of course it would be held late at night. “How far away from the building do I have to change into the costume? I’ve no plans to walk out my front door dressed for work. Does twenty meters from the building sound fair?”

Hakuba considered. “Going in, that sounds fair. Coming out, however, you have to stay in character until you lose all of your pursuers.”

Kaito briefly thought of the snipers in black and decided that the hunters threatening his life didn’t count. After all, Hakuba wasn’t trying to get him killed… probably. “On my word, I will stay in my traditional costume from the time I’m within a twenty meter perimeter outside the building before the heist until I’ve lost all officers and teenage detectives.” There, that excluded Snake and his underlings. “Pre-heist preparations do not count. Attending the heist should be enough proof for you, though I can rig up some cameras for when I’m in places that you’re not.”

“That takes care of your challenge, then.” There was an unspoken “And for mine?” tacked on the end.

Kaito’s smile stretched to include most of his teeth, which had the desired reaction of making Hakuba look a little nervous. “I agree that disguises should be the theme for our next challenge. Before our next meeting, you will need to create a convincing cross-gender ensemble and take a picture of yourself in it somewhere public.”

“You want me to dress up as a woman?”

“That’s what I said, isn’t it? A _convincing_ woman, not just you with a skirt and clip on earrings.”

“Why do you want me to do that?”

“It’s a yes or no answer to my challenge, Tantei-san. You’re not afraid are you?”

Hakuba shifted in his seat. “If I were discovered while cross-dressing, my reputation would be shattered to pieces.”

“And if I were discovered in my Kid paraphernalia, my civilian identity would encounter similar difficulties.”

“ _I_ wouldn’t be able to find work. You, on the other hand, would be praised by the criminal community for outwitting the police at sev– whatever age you are.” Kaito didn’t miss the slip, but let it pass because Hakuba continued, “Your observed powers of disguise would allow your civilian identity to disappear off the map. You could get hired under a new persona. I only have my own identity to work with.”

“I guess that means you’ll have to do a really good job with it then,” Kaito concluded smugly. “I would suggest that you get voice-changing equipment if you don’t want Fem-Hakuba to be recognized. I hear they have chokers and bowties that do that.” A certain mini detective with his arsenal of gadgets came to mind.

“Another thing you don’t have to bother with,” Hakuba grumbled.

“That’s just a benefit of being me.”

“Oh, and you’re modest too.” Hakuba was going to pull a muscle if he kept rolling his eyes like that.

“To a fault. So are you accepting this challenge, Tantei-chan, or do I have to come up with a punishment challenge?”

“ _Fine_ , I accept.”

“Excellent! I’m looking forward to the photos. Now that our next contest is set up, we’re due for the rewards from this past one. If you recall, the prize for completing challenges is a question answered honestly. We both passed the first set of tasks, so we’re both due answers. You may go first,” he added magnanimously.

“Any question?” Hakuba asked, suspicious and looking for a loophole.

“Anything at all, though I will remind you of your promise not to use anything from these meetings against me.”

“I remember.” Hakuba set down his teacup to steeple his fingers. “I’m afraid most of my questions have to do directly with your identity or purpose, but I have the feeling you would cease attending these meetings if I asked you outright.” Kaito nodded. “So, a compromise is in order. The one I’ve just come up with is related to the Kid persona, but not your civilian identity.” He picked up another biscuit. “How many people have worn the Kid costume?”

That was safer than most of the other questions he could have asked, but Kaito still thought before responding. He’d promised himself not to give away anything that could lead back to Kuroba Kaito. Giving the number of Kids wouldn’t pin him, except that it left open the possibility that he, the current Kid, had been very young at the start of the first Kid’s career. “Officially? Five,” Kaito finally answered, _and you know two of them: Koizumi and me._ Koizumi and Jii-chan were short-term kaitous, and hadn’t worn exactly the same costume as Kaito and his father, but they still counted. Kaito was also fairly certain, based on strong hints from his mother, that she’d donned the monocle at some point too. “There have been copycats trying to use my name for their own purposes, but only five genuine Kids.”

“Five?” Hakuba answered, clearly surprised. “I expected two, given the eight year period before your revival, but the style among the heists is very similar, so I didn’t anticipate five different magicians. I suppose I’ll have to win the next challenge if I want to know what happened to your four predecessors.”

Kaito kept his smile on, but it was forced. “Careful with your questions, Tantei-san. I _am_ enjoying this, but my safety is also of importance to me.” He didn’t correct the assumption that the Kids existed linearly, one after the other with no overlap.

“Of course. My apologies. I suppose it’s your turn to ask now.”

Kaito leaned forward, both elbows on the table and chin in his hands. “What made little Sa-chan decide to be a detective, hmm? When the other boys wanted to be firemen or astronauts, what interested you in stolen items and dead bodies?”

Hakuba rolled his eyes at the admittedly ridiculous nickname, but gamely answered. “When I was a kid, Mum enrolled me in many things like fencing, boxing, and ballroom dancing. One day when I was twelve, I stumbled across a theft in progress: a man had just snatched an elderly woman’s purse. Being of an athletic bent from those activities, I gave chase, down back alleys and up and down fire escapes.” He laughed. “It was foolish, in retrospect, because I had no idea if the man had any cohorts waiting for him. I wasn’t prepared for anything other than a one-on-one confrontation. Anyway, I lost him a couple times and had to deduce which way he went at intersections and around corners. This particular thief had a pattern for evading pursuit, and when I figured it out, I managed to anticipate him.” Hakuba was looking off to the side, smiling. He probably didn’t even realize he was doing it, which Kaito found intriguing given the blonde’s self-control.

“You were twelve, and you confronted him?”

“I thought I was invincible. And if you think I was bad, I can hardly imagine what _you_ got up to when you were twelve, Kid. Back to the story, though, I did confront him. He was taller and a good deal heavier, but I had better footwork from ballroom dance and fencing. Several well-placed punches later, he wasn’t going anywhere. I alerted the authorities and he was arrested. The elderly woman got her purse back, and someone did an article about it for the paper. My mum sent the newspaper clipping to Father and the next time he called, he congratulated me and said that I had a talent. I liked the idea of having a deductive talent and using it regularly, and I’d already read all of Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories, so I continued with it, eventually working with the police on cases as my success rate increased. It very quickly became my passion.”

Kaito hummed. “And here I thought you came out of the womb with a magnifying glass. A city chase with no backup… that’s an interesting start to a career.”

“Normally, I’d reciprocate and ask for your story, but…”

Kaito nodded once, chuckling. “I appreciate your restraint.” Then he checked Hakuba’s pocket watch. “Oh dear, it appears I’m late for a very important date.”

There was a surprised “Hey! When did you take that?”

“I thought I was the white rabbit, Hatter. Here.” He handed the pocket watch back. “I don’t keep the things I take.”

“I know.” There was an odd pause in there as they both became overly aware that Kid was a thief and Hakuba a detective devoted to the study and capture of thieves. “Good night, Kid.”

“Good evening to you as well, Tantei-san.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SR: And that's chapter 3! Our boys didn't do too bad for their first challenge.
> 
> MG: Agreed. We're super-duper thrilled for the next challenge. Isn't everyone excited to see how Kid pulls off the next heist? And Saguru in drag will be interesting to work on too.
> 
> SR: And I can't WAIT to write that. Though this chapter was a lot of fun to write too. It's my fault that this chapter got as kooky Disney as it did. Though MG did start it with the Peter Pan heist note, so I blame her for inspiring my plot bunnies to run away with the theme! And Saguru somehow ended up a film fan. Did any of you catch the National Treasure quote before Kaito pointed it out? MG did. ;)
> 
> MG: I love movies like National Treasure and Ocean's Eleven, which is probably one of the reasons why I enjoy writing Kaito so much. I had loads of fun coming up with the lettered pranks for his alphabetical heist and I got to reread Arsene Lupin for quotes. We had a couple of literary gems at our disposal, so it was great fun to work Ganimard in :)
> 
> SR: I agree. I also read a Lupin book for the first time for this chapter too, so now I'm addicted to another book series. Lupin is hilarious and I was reminded of Kid a lot as I read. I highly recommend the books. The heist was very fun, MG, and I loved your heist riddle. It was fun for me to write Hakuba's riddle too. It's the first one I've ever done for a DC/MK fic and I'm rather happy with it. I couldn't resist an Iron Man reference and he's technically a Disney character now so it counts! It was also a lot of fun to write Hakuba reasoning out the heist note. I even looked up the lyrics for the ABC song and found an astronomy website that predicted the times for October 7th's (today!) phases of dusk times, so what Saguru looked up and presented to the Task Force was legit, and so was the hotel he picked to have a meeting at (I really like to do my research if you guys haven't noticed). The Disney Hotel is sadly a creation of my own, though I'm sure Tokyo Disney Sea and Disneyland have their own resort hotel somewhere close to the parks.
> 
> MG: Thanks, SR, the riddle was fun to write, and I liked yours too. I enjoyed the moment where Saguru played the entire heist debriefing for Kid. Kaito's line "But I rarely get to listen in on these things" made me laugh because OF COURSE he occasionally listens in through his bugs (or disguises as an officer to help plan and give Nakamori outrageous suggestions, haha).
> 
> SR: Haha, yeah. There was a lot of irony in this chapter. Developing Hakuba's back story was a lot of fun too just because of the kind of mother figure that I've come up with in my head and she'll be making her debut soon too, so look forward to that! But now this chapter and challenge is over, and the start of the next one will begin soon.
> 
> MG: Please leave a comment - every bit of feedback is helpful!


	4. The Disguise Challenge (Part 1)

KAITO

Kaito spun around in his chair idly as evening fell on Wednesday, thinking about the next heist. Well, maybe not the next one. If he skimmed through one in a few weeks, made it an easy one with minimal special effects, he could put more planning into the Halloween heist. October the 31st was the perfect night for a phantom. He could invite the fans to wear their Halloween costumes. Ooh, fun. Kaito might skip a mid-month heist and funnel all of his efforts into completing his challenge on Halloween. It would be magnificent. Yes. Kaito jumped up from the chair and did some stretches, loosening up as he mentally plotted. Where would be the best place to hold a Halloween heist? An old, potentially haunted mansion would be ideal, but no jewel owner would keep their valuables in a place with low security. Perhaps a regular mansion might do if Kaito added the scare factor himself? No, actually, there wouldn’t be room for all the fans he wanted to come. It would have to be a public place.

Kaito checked which gems were going to be on display at the end of October and one stuck out. There was a topaz called the Sun-drop which would be shown in the Mori Art Museum across the city until mid-November as part of a thematic exhibit about heavenly bodies. The gallery was a huge space on the 53rd floor of the Mori Tower and perfect for a large audience. He illegally downloaded the blueprints and printed them out, and examined them while hanging from the gymnastic high bars in the Kid Room. Kaito frowned. The architect hadn’t been particularly worried about accuracy when he or she had drawn the outlines. He remembered from his class visit there a year ago that the space where the topaz was supposed to be exhibited was definitely bigger than what the measurements on the plans indicated.

Well, no plans could be a substitute for seeing things with his own eyes. Dropping the plans, Kaito gripped the bar, tucked his legs in to his chest, and flipped over the bar before dismounting. Humming to himself, Kaito threw on a disguise and left the Kid room. The gallery was open for two more hours, enough time to get there and look around while the lights were still on. He’d come back later when everything was dark to get a feel for the ventilation shafts and emergency exits.

As he eyed the topaz through glass, his phone warbled the theme song from a popular anime and Kaito checked the caller ID: Hayashi Raito. He hesitated. Right now he wasn’t Kuroba Kaito, Hayashi’s friend; he was the Kaitou Kid on reconnaissance. He was currently in disguise and this persona, Ueda Tarou, had a deeper voice than his own. Answering the phone in Ueda’s voice was out of the question, because Hayashi would think someone else had Kaito’s phone. However, answering as himself would alert anyone who might be watching that Ueda Tarou could change his voice easily. The other alternative was not to answer at all and let the call go to voicemail. He had six more rings to make up his mind.

The part of his mind that was Kid and analyzed situations with a mere glance told him to let the phone go. It likely wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait until tomorrow when they were in school. Kaito couldn’t jeopardize his and his father’s work because of an ill-timed phone call during preparations.

The other part of Kaito’s mind, the one that wanted to make people happy and felt strongly about the people in his life, was diametrically opposed. Friendship was important and the heist was weeks away. So what if he had to trash one disguise? He could use the individual costume pieces for other personas. He’d known that he didn’t have to show any kind of identification here if he bought a ticket with cash, so Ueda Tarou wasn’t someone he’d put effort into.

He flipped the phone open and cleared his throat. “Hey, Raito. What’s up?”

“I’ve got a question for you about Hamasaki’s costume. Is this a good time to talk?”

“Sure. I could even swing by if you’re home, but I have somewhere to stop off at first.”

“It shouldn’t take that long. By phone is fine.”

“Okay.” Kaito made use of his ability to multi-task and chatted with the brunet about color schemes for costuming while taking in every detail about the gallery. “Hey,” Kaito began after they’d worked out the costume troubles, “I remember that the soccer match on Friday is an away game in Shibuya. Because your girlfriend is from there, I was wondering if you were still going to sit with us?”

“Yeah. About that.” He laughed. “I’m not sure. She wants to meet everyone, but Mariko-chan is incredibly passionate about her school. As much as I want to support Saiki-kun and the other players, I don’t think she and I should sit on the Ekoda side.”

“I’m sure our boys won’t take it personally if you sit with us but cheer for Shibuya High just this once. Especially if she’s hot. They’ll totally understand.”

“Ah, I hope so. Good night, Kaito-kun.”

“Good night.” Kaito hung up and made one last circuit around the room with the Sun-drop before leaving the museum. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he had an errand to run, and it was almost time for it. Kaito found a convenience store to change out of his disguise and bought a mixture of sweets. After that, he took the train over to Ueno.

“Kuroba-san!” The little girl shouted when he knocked on the doorframe of the hospital room.

“Kyou-chan!” Kaito cooed. “How are you holding up? Is your daddy doing better?” Yamaguchi-san was sleeping at the moment.

“Yeah. The police caught the monster that was hurting Daddy.” She lowered her voice. “It looked like a person, but I know better.”

“Oh, you do, huh?” He pulled the bag of candy out of his sleeve with the flair of a performer and offered it to her.

“Thank you!” She pulled off the wrapper on a lemon candy and popped it in her mouth. “I’m so glad I met you, Kuroba-san. Lots of grownups are too busy to play.”

“Well, soon enough you’ll have your father back to play with you.”

“Yup! So, what happened to the jack of clubs after he kissed the king of hearts?”

“Ah, the story! I don’t know; I haven’t thought of the ending yet. I’ll come back soon with more stories about the tricky jack of clubs, Brontosaurus-chan.”

“What about the pretty blond man who found the monster? Will he come too?”

“Pretty blond–? Oh, you mean Hakuba. I could ask him at school.”

“Good.” Kyou persuaded him to do more magic tricks and he taught her how to do the Sudoku in the newspaper so she’d have something to do while waiting for her aunt to pick her up. He left for Ekoda smiling.

 

SAGURU

After school on Thursday Saguru sat at his desk thumbing through the sketches and lists of materials he’d made up for his challenge. He just knew that Kid was going to take advantage of his suggestion about holding a Halloween heist, so Saguru figured he had until then to complete his challenge. That left a little over three weeks to plan and actually execute said plans. He’d been nervous at the initial prospect of this challenge, but Kid’s taunts had poked at his pride. Kid didn’t think that Saguru could do it and that if he did go through with the challenge, it wouldn’t be done well. Well Saguru would show him. The thief apparently hadn’t done his research into Saguru’s family beyond the Hakuba bloodline and their connections with law enforcement and politics. His mother was a world-renowned make-up and fashion designer and owned her own company, Beau Vous, which had offices and studios all over the world in major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney, and of course in Tokyo. And it just so happened that her favorite holiday was Halloween. Sales in the company’s makeup and costuming departments skyrocketed around this time of year.

After giving his supply list another quick review, he nodded in satisfaction and headed out. He knew that he would have to fabricate some appliances to pull this off successfully, and that would take time and resources that he didn’t have readily available at home. He had an appointment with his mother’s Tokyo branch manager of Beau Vous. He took a train to Shibuya and got on a bus that would drop him off a few blocks from his destination. When he entered the pristine office department, the secretary greeted him warmly before buzzing him in to see Tahito Kikyo, his mother’s right hand woman in Japan. She also happened to be his father’s youngest sister. She was the black sheep in the Hakuba family for not becoming or marrying an officer, lawyer or politician.

“Sa-chan!” Kikyo beamed as he entered her office. “It’s so lovely to see you! I was surprised to get your call. I don’t normally see you in here unless your mother is dragging you in by the collar.”

Saguru laughed, smiling warmly as he embraced his aunt after she’d scurried out from behind her desk to give him a hug.

“Now!” Kikyo grinned. “What can I do for my favorite nephew?”

“I’m in need of your resources,” Saguru told her. “Is it possible for me to rent out a work space at one of the studios? I’ve got a rather… unique project that requires me to alter my appearance. _Not_ a case, mind you, it’s rather… lets call it a social experiment. And it requires the utmost discretion, _especially_ from Mum. …And Dad. I’ll never hear the end of it if certain persons were to find out what it is I’m… uh…”

“Say no more,” Kikyo giggled. “I’ll put in a request for Workspace 7 in Studio Two to be cleared. It’s at the end of the hall and should be private enough, but that’s because it is the farthest workspace from the molding and fabrication rooms. Will that do?”

“Don’t worry,” Saguru smiled. “That will work out just fine. How soon can the space be ready?”

“Oh… a day? Maybe two if someone is currently utilizing it. I’ll give you a call when the space is ready. How long should I reserve it for you?”

“Two weeks should be fine. Maybe two-and-a-half.”

“How about three weeks, just to be safe?” Kikyo smiled. “I’ll put in the request information this afternoon.”

“And not a word to either of my parents?” Saguru asked.

“Mum’s the word, my dear. But only if you promise to stop by more often. Maybe help with this November’s show?”

“Perhaps, if I’m not loaded down with school and casework,” Saguru smiled. “But I will stop by whenever I have the chance.”

“Good boy,” his aunt smiled. “I’ll see you later, Darling.”

“Good-bye, Kikyo-baa-chan.”

 

KAITO

Kaito rapped on the glass door three times and waited. He looked around to see if the guards were circling this way. He’d been careless once and had been spotted on the balcony, but tonight it looked like Kaito had gotten the timing right.

Since there hadn’t been a sound of protest from inside, he picked the lock and opened one of the double French doors, drawing the curtains aside. “It’s been absolutely _ages_ , Sono-chan. You haven’t been online much.”

“Kid-kun!” Suzuki Sonoko squealed, rushing forward to squeeze him in a hug. “How’ve you been? I heard the alphabet heist was eventful.”

He squeezed her back. “It was an absolute riot. I almost cried laughing.”

“I wish I could have been there. Makoto-san was in town, though, so we went on a date. I’ll be sure to make the next one.”

Kaito coughed as they separated. “Speaking of your boyfriend, Sonoko-chan, he was _really intense._ What he did with martial arts during the Green Emperor heist was borderline impossible.”

A dreamy smile took over her face. “Yeah. He was pretty cool.” The only time to date that Kaito had been caught sneaking into the Suzuki residence was during prep for the Green Emperor heist. However, since Kid had delivered a heist note earlier that day and made a bet with Sonoko which she later acknowledged publically, it was easily explained away as a one-time occurrence. She hadn’t been expecting him that particular evening – they usually communicated through a pro-Kid forum with chat messages – and he’d been forced to cut short her conversation with the Mouri girl. Who knew if that little terror with the soccer balls had been listening?

He rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Whatever. I have a favor to ask of you this evening.”

“A favor from Kid-sama. How could I resist?” She settled onto the carpet, cross-legged, batting her eyes dramatically.

He joined her on the floor. “Goof. I do remember specifying that when you’re not pretending to be smitten with me, you refer to me as a friend.”

“Who says I’m pretending?”

“Oh, stop it already.”

She laughed. “Okay. It’s just, I have to be over-the-moon obsessed with you outside of our private conversations because it’s the only way I get into heists. It’s a habit.”

“Mmm, but it’s not much of a stretch,” he teased.

“Excuse me for getting excited about everything in my life.”

“If I judged you for your enthusiasm, Milady, I would be a wretched hypocrite. However,” he added, “I do remember the days when your zeal rather countered my goals. Sending Mouri-tantei to capture me for you wasn’t very nice.”

“I used to be pretty infatuated with you,” she admitted with a grin, waving the thought into the past, “but since you revealed yourself during that murder case, and we continued talking as _us_ rather than just the screen names RedHerring and SpellMagician, you’ve dulled a bit as a passionate, mysteeeeeerious figure.” Even sitting down she managed to strike a dramatic pose, making a circle out of her fingers and wiggling her eyebrows as she covered one side of her face with it.

“That’s the wrong side for the monocle, dear, and I could _never_ be dull.” Kaito thought the decline of her fixation might have had more to do with the fact that one of his conditions for their continued contact was that she was not to make any amorous advances. At first he’d been worried, since she’d taken a long time to agree when he’d named the condition. After three or four visits, though, she seemed to understand that he really wasn’t interested in her in that way. They spent most of their time in person and online being silly and talking about expensive art and clothes. A couple months later, Kaito was comfortable enough to ramp up their outrageous behavior to include fake flirting without worrying that Sonoko would get the wrong idea. She’d talked glowingly about Kyougoku Makoto before she started dating the martial artist and Kaito had found himself running surveillance on the teen to make sure he wasn’t going to hurt Kid’s friend.

Kaito got back on topic. “Well, your fervor is exactly what I need this time, my darling amateur magician.”

“Oh yeah?” She perked up in interest.

“What would you say to holding a costume party on All Hallows Eve?”

“A Halloween party? Sounds fun. Details, please.”

“Mmm, I have a location for you: the Mori Art Museum. Everything must already be in place – reserving the space for the evening, sending the invitations, et cetera – before I can send my note to the wonderful law enforcement officers of our city.”

She clapped her hands. “Let’s do it. I’m sure my father knows someone who works high up in the museum. I’ll need an excuse to hold it there, though.”

“I’m confident you can come up with something.”

“Of course. Why do you need a Halloween party to steal this heist target? Is the art museum especially hard to get into?”

“Not at all. I just happen to have some special constraints this time, nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Ah, just so you know, I’m also planning to record the entire heist, from my entrance to exit. I’m afraid telling you why would break a promise, but if by some chance we have the opportunity to converse during the evening, it would be better if our friendship was not revealed.” Editing out a conversation with Sonoko would cast suspicion on her if Hakuba was late to the heist or distracted and insisted on watching the whole thing during their clandestine meeting.

“Ooh, now I’m curious. As soon as you’re allowed to spill the details, let me know. I can’t wait.”

They chatted for a while longer before Kaito smoothly stood up and held out a hand to her. “Make sure to dress up in costume for the occasion.”

She took the offered hand. “What about you? Are you dressing up?”

Kaito grinned. “I always come in costume, Sono-chan. You shall see.”

“Tease.” He laughed as he shut the glass door behind him and snapped open his glider, jumping off the balcony into the night.

With that taken care of, Kaito felt much better about the challenge. He even took it easy on his classmates the next day. It was a noticeable enough difference that Hakuba commented on it after the bell rang for the start of lunch. “Are you feeling well, Kuroba-kun? Your penchant for public disturbance seems to be subdued today. Not that any of us are complaining, of course.”

“I’m in a good mood,” Kaito shrugged. Then, feeling the need to offer an explanation, he added, “I’m going to Saiki-kun’s soccer match this afternoon in Shibuya with Aoko and Raito-kun.” Oh, that was a thought: Shibuya was near Ueno, where Kyou’s father was hospitalized. Kaito made good on his promise to the little girl. “Would you like to come with us?”

Hakuba’s expression betrayed his surprise, but he recovered quickly. “It would be a pleasure.”

“You sure about that? You look shocked.”

“The invitation was unexpected, but not unwelcome.”

“Well, I aim to be unpredictable, so that’s good to hear. Listen, I was visiting Yamaguchi Kyou-chan and her father at the hospital the other day and she was wondering if you were going to stop by. Since Ueno’s not far from Shibuya, we could pop in after the match. She’s precious.”

Hakuba softened. “I’d like to see how she and her father are faring. I always –” he broke off for a moment, then continued: “I always feel better about the cases with no casualties.” He looked resolutely over at the window, away from Kaito.

Kaito thought of the Nightmare heist. “Understandable.”

“Kuroba-kun.”

If Kaito had been anyone else, he would have jumped a mile high at the sound of the witch’s voice behind him. He turned around. She was poised, as always, hands clasped behind her.

“Yeah, what is it, Koizumi?”

“Is everyone taking the train over to Shibuya together?”

Kaito opened his mouth to say no, but decided it would be worth it in the long run not to get on her bad side again. “Yes.”

“I haven’t been to a sporting event in a long time,” she mused.

Hakuba spoke up. “Of course you should come too, Akako-kun.”

“Yes,” Kaito agreed through gritted teeth, “of course you should come too.” Koizumi just gave him an amused look, like she knew what he was thinking anyway.

 

SAGURU

Saguru hadn’t missed the strain in Kuroba’s tone or the humor in Akako’s expression, but he ignored it. Whatever issues there were between Kuroba and Akako, it was their own business.

“So is everyone meeting at the train station at a certain time, or are we all meeting up after school and going there together?” Saguru asked.

“Ask Aoko,” Kuroba sighed. “Come on, you two might as well sit with us for lunch so that we can coordinate better.” Akako and Saguru nodded, following Kuroba up to the roof where Aoko was waiting with Hayashi, Takumi, and Keiko.

“So I take it you two are going to join us for the game this afternoon?” Hayashi asked.

“If you don’t mind,” Saguru said, not wanting to step on anybody’s toes.

“Of course not!” Keiko and Aoko replied in unison.

“The more the merrier, as they say,” Takumi smiled.

The lunch period was spent hammering out plans and details for the afternoon while they ate. It was decided that they would all meet up at the train station around 4 o’clock. The game wasn’t until 6, but everyone wanted the chance to meet and get to know Hayashi’s girlfriend before the game. That gave Saguru just enough time to head home and change into something warm and more comfortable for the outdoor game. Today was a little on the chilly side so Saguru welcomed the addition of a scarf and sweater to his attire before leaving. He’d also received a call from Aunt Kikyo letting him know that his requested workspace was being cleared and would be ready for his use by tomorrow morning. Beau Vous’ offices and its Studios were in Shibuya – where most of Japan’s prominent fashion industries were located. It was a shame that the studio space wouldn’t be ready by this evening, but since he’d agreed to accompany Kuroba to Ueno to visit the Yamaguchis, he wouldn’t have had time to visit the space anyway.

At 4pm on the dot, Saguru met up with his classmates and they all took the train. The trip took 31 minutes and 49 seconds, and a lovely redhead with hazel eyes – Kanami Mariko – was waiting for them just outside the station. Hayashi greeted her with a wide smile and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Kanami Mariko,” he said and introduced her to everyone.

“Nice to meet you.” Kanami bowed, a soft blush on her face.

“Same to you,” Aoko beamed as she bowed in return. “Aoko’s so happy to finally meet you! Raito-kun talks about you a lot.”

“Does he now? Nothing bad I hope,” Kanami laughed, looking pleased.

“Only good things,” Keiko assured her. The girls gathered around Kanami and started asking her questions while the boys hung back. Hayashi looked relieved to see his friends getting along with his girlfriend. The group followed Kanami as she showed them around on the way to Shibuya High, stopping at a local convenience store for snacks for the game.

Kanami Mariko was a delightful girl. She had a nice laugh, a witty sense of humor, and a real passion for drama and sports. Saguru thought that she and Hayashi made a nice couple and contrasted well. Where Hayashi was soft spoken, Kanami was a conversationalist. They were opposites, but clearly infatuated with each other and were making a distant relationship work.

At the field they found seats in the back of the stands on the Ekoda side around midfield. The first half of the game was really close, neither side scoring until Saiki made a scrappy move that sent him sprawling as he kicked the ball away from a Shibuya player and allowed one of his teammates to score. Saguru was amused to see the polite and amiable Kanami that they’d gotten to know over the last hour and a half turn into a rabid fan. Hayashi looked equally amused, but a little embarrassed as many of the other spectators in the Ekoda stands stared at them.

When things calmed down as the teams stopped for halftime, Kanami calmed down a bit too, but the passionate fan was still brewing under the surface.

“Your friend, Saiki-kun is really good. Poor Harada-kun had no chance recovering that ball,” she grinned. “But the game’s not over yet. Takama-kun is just warming up!” The gang laughed amiably, and chatted while waiting for the second half to start. Saguru only half listened to the conversation the girls started up with Kanami, asking her about the players on the Shibuya team.

“What superpower would you want?”

“What?” Saguru blinked in surprise, looking over at Kuroba.

Kuroba shrugged. “I'm bored. I sat still for the entire first half of the game. You want to answer the question?”

“Ah…Mind reading? Either that or having the ability to sense whether someone is lying or not.” Saguru frowned. “Why? What about you?”

“You’d want to become a human lie detector, huh?” Kuroba chuckled. “Typical. I’d like the ability to make really good food.”

Saguru shook his head. Just where was Kuroba going with this? “That’s called cooking, Kuroba. I would have thought you’d want the ability to fly.”

“Oh, that’s good too,” Kuroba mused. “But seriously, even though I can feed myself, I don’t have the patience to cook anything that requires a lot of preparation.”

Saguru found himself smiling. “The power to instantly make good food, huh? Why not the power to perform actual magic?”

“Absolutely not,” Kuroba scoffed. “It wouldn’t be as impressive that way.”

“Of course. My apologies.”

The game had restarted. “Ok, your turn,” Kuroba said, bumping Saguru’s shoulder. “Ask me a question.”

Saguru raised an eyebrow at his classmate, but relaxed in his seat and thought up a question. Seriously. What was Kuroba up to? “What is your favorite game?” he asked.

“What kind of game? Board game? Card game? Party game?”

“…All of the above.”

“Let me see…” Saguru watched in amusement as Kaito reclined into the chain link barrier that lined the back of the stands. “I love many, many card games, and being a magician I know many card tricks, but lately I've been playing Canasta online. Twister is my favorite party game – I always win.” Kuroba grinned, winking at Saguru before humming as he contemplated his favorite board game. “Hmm… I like lots of board games, but my favorite would have to be Scrabble. I don’t really care if I win, but Mom and I like to see who can play the weirdest word. What about you?”

“Well, chess would have to be my favorite board game,” Saguru mused.

“Of course it is,” Kuroba mumbled under his breath.

Saguru jabbed him with his elbow, eliciting a snicker from the other. “I don’t play a lot of card games, but I do enjoy Solitaire. I have Solitaire apps on most of my mobile devices.”

“Boooring,” Kuroba yawned. “So what’s your favorite party game? Monopoly? Or do you not attend enough parties to have a favorite?”

Saguru jabbed him again. “Shove it. I’ll have you know I have been to many parties and have participated in many party games – many of which I wish I hadn’t,” Saguru huffed. “I’d have to say Apples to Apples is my favorite party game.”

“Really?” Kuroba asked, looking surprised. “I never would have guessed.”

“It’s a family favorite on my mother’s side.” Saguru smiled and shook his head. “My mother got me the travel version for my birthday this year, and then one of my uncles had to go and get me Cards Against Humanity. It’s so unbelievably twisted; I think you’d enjoy it immensely. With the right people it can be pretty hilarious despite how horrible and immoral it is. I won two out of the three games my family played before I came back to Japan. Apparently being a detective has given me a rather sadistic sense of humor that plays well within the game.”

Kuroba’s eyebrows were practically merged within his hairline. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’ve heard of Cards Against Humanity, but I’ve never played.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t,” Saguru smirked. “It’s right up your alley.”

“Alright, my turn again. If you had to be a mythological creature, what would you be?”

“Mythological creature, huh? Umm… An elf, perhaps? And I mean the tall elegant Lord of the Rings type elves, not the tiny Keebler elves you see in children’s storybooks. They’re rather sophisticated and expert woodsmen and warriors.”

Kuroba nodded, satisfied with the answer before giving his. “Well, I'd _like_ to be a dragon, because Western dragons can fly and the whole breathing-fire thing sounds like a great time, but honestly, I'd probably be a kitsune. The trickster kind, that is, not the kind that, you know, marries someone until it’s revealed that they’re not human and then has to leave. Yeah.”

Saguru couldn’t hold back a chuckle, his smirk sliding back into place. “Oh? And why make that particular distinction? You could have just said trickster kitsune and I would have known what you meant.”

“Huh? Oh… well, you specified what kind of elf you were.”

“I did, but only because there is a difference between children’s fairytale elves and those found in adult classic fantasy literature. As far as I’m aware, there are only two main types of kitsune: the ones who bring good fortune and luck, and the ones that play pranks and bring misfortune.”

“There are many stories on kitsune lore,” Kuroba defended. “And while it’s true that there are trickster and good deity types, there is also the spouse-lover seducing type.”

“Ah, but aren’t all the seducing kitsune female in the tales? You are not female, so why bother to make that specification?”

Kuroba scowled at him, but didn’t deign his question with a response, turning away from Hakuba to watch the remainder of the game. Saguru chuckled, and waited. After three minutes Kuroba jabbed his elbow into Saguru’s arm and demanded he ask another question, so for the remainder of the game they asked questions, bantering and teasing over the answers.

 

KAITO

The prank with the temporary tattoo during overtime probably was unfair, in retrospect, but Hakuba didn’t have to be vindictive and tell Koizumi where they were going after the game. Of course she would decide to tag along to Ueno. Of course Kaito couldn’t escape her. He was about ready to strangle someone after ending up between them on the train. The pair of them got along _so well_ it was wrecking his nerves.

Spotting Kyou upon their arrival cheered his mood immensely. He was first into the hospital room and produced a handful of daisies for her. “One blonde detective, as promised, my darling Kyou-chan.” He gestured at the two who’d walked in behind him. “I’m sure you remember Hakuba Saguru and this is –” _the queen of darkness_ “– our classmate Koizumi Akako. She was at the museum too, remember?”

“It’s good to see that you’re looking well,” Hakuba said formally. Koizumi murmured her greetings to the girl. Lively as ever, Kyou drew the three into playing with her dolls. It was both a little strange and amusing to see how easily Hakuba allowed himself to get pulled into the game. He really was good with kids, it seemed.

After only about ten minutes, Kaito’s phone chirped the chorus to Poker Face. He flipped it open without looking at the caller ID, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind him. “Jii-chan? What’s up?”

“Bocchama, there’s been someone investigating around one of your aviaries.” That was their code word for Kaito’s safe houses scattered around the city. “At this point I’m not sure why that person’s there, but I wanted to give you a heads up that your aviary in Shibuya might best be left alone for now. I was doing a regular check of the camera feeds and noticed that he’s been poking around to see if anyone’s inside.”

Kaito glanced at his watch: there was still plenty of time to get over there and deal with the problem before the trains stopped running. Back to Shibuya, then. “I’m close by, so I’ll take care of it.” If the potential intruder had been kind enough to start his mischief a half hour earlier, Kaito would have still been in Shibuya and could have saved the time it took to take a train over there.

“Be careful.”

“You too, Jii-chan. I’ll call you back later.” Kaito poked his head back into the hospital room. “I’m terribly sorry, Kyou-chan, but something rather important has just come up. I’ll swing by again another day, alright?"

“Okay. Bye, Kuroba-san!”

“Farewell.” He nodded at Koizumi and Hakuba. “See you two in class.” Hmm. This early departure had the added bonus of getting him out of the return train trip with his classmates. There really _was_ a bright side to everything, wasn’t there?

 

SAGURU

Saguru frowned as he watched Kuroba duck back out of the hospital room. Kuroba was a strange one for sure. In any case, Saguru didn’t want to overstay his welcome and visit longer than necessary. It had been Kuroba’s idea to come visit the Yamaguchis after all and now that the sneaky magician was gone, Saguru didn’t feel particularly comfortable staying. He liked children, but he never liked intruding in others’ homes or spaces unless invited. Sure, Kuroba had said that Kyou had wanted him to visit, but with Yamaguchi Ryouichi unconscious Saguru didn’t feel right staying alone with Kyou. Though he did wonder who was supposed to be watching her until her father recovered from his attack. According to what Kuroba had told him and what he’d seen in follow up reports from the precinct, Yamaguchi had been left weakened and ill even though he’d survived the attack.

“We should probably head home soon as well,” Akako commented, as if reading his thoughts.

“Aww, do you have to?” She pouted. “Daddy does nothing but sleep all day because of that monster.”

It took Saguru a minute to make the connection. When she’d been concerned at the museum, it was because she thought monsters had gotten her father. “Well, that man is locked up now.”

“No, it was a monster,” Kyou stated. “It looked like a man, but I know better.”

Saguru smiled indulgently at the child until he caught sight of Akako’s expression.

“He was an ugly brute, was he?” His friend looked strangely intrigued.

“The ugliest,” Kyou wrinkled her nose in a way that made Saguru chuckle at how adorable she looked. “But you knew he was a monster from the start, didn’t you, Hakuba-san? You stopped it from killing my daddy. I wanted to thank you.”

“You really don’t have to, Kyou-chan,” Saguru protested as the little girl shot to her feet and raced over to a small Sailor Moon backpack hanging off the back of the visitor’s chair next to Yamaguchi-san’s bed side. She returned a moment later with an omamori charm in her fist.

“My aunt helped me make this for you,” Kyou said, handing the little bag to him. “It’ll help protect you against the monsters. Kuroba-san says you see a lot of them, so you’ll need it.”

Saguru took the charm and examined it. It was white with pink sakura blossoms, green tiles and golden kanji stitched into the silk fabric. He could smell a small hint of herbs coming from within the omamori. It was a yakuyoke – a ward against evil.

“It’s well made,” Akako commented. “There’s ground up fennel, holly and clove leaves inside, right? And you said your aunt helped you make this. Is she a miko?”

“No,” Kyou shook her head. “She says my mommy taught her when they started their herb shop. That’s one of the strongest protection charms she sells.”

Akako hummed, a small mysterious smile sliding into place. Saguru shot her a questioning glance, but she shook her head. “ _Later_ ,” she mouthed. Saguru nodded, his curiosity piqued.

He lifted the string attached to the charm and slipped it around his neck. Kyou nodded. “Now you’ll be safe from the monsters. You better wear it!”

“Thank you, Kyou-chan. I will,” Saguru promised as he stood up. “Well, we’d better go, Akako-kun.” Akako nodded, rising gracefully.

They bid Kyou-chan a good night, leaving just as the girl’s aunt arrived. Saguru introduced himself and Akako, explaining that they’d come by with Kuroba – who was apparently already acquainted with Kyou-chan’s aunt. Saguru exchanged business cards with the woman and gave a final farewell to Kyou before he and Akako finally left to catch a train back to Ekoda.

“Curious little girl, isn’t she?” Akako mused as they took a seat in their passenger car.

“Isn’t every child?” Saguru shrugged.

“I was referring to her ability to see monsters, Saguru-kun,” Akako corrected.

Saguru frowned. “What?”

“The man that attacked Yamaguchi Ryouichi was not human,” Akako said imperiously as she leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs. “It was a kappa. Nasty one too. He reeked of rotting fish and sewage when the police arrested him, according to the witch I know at the station. I’m glad Kyou wasn’t there to see him in person. But even still… to have known what he was before seeing his mug shots… the arts must be strong within her bloodline. I wonder who her mother is…”

Saguru started at his friend incredulously for a moment. “Let me get this straight… you’re saying Kyou-chan’s a witch?”

“No, silly, but her mother probably is. Kyou-chan’s too young to be a proper witch. She’s just a child, but she has great potential if she’s able to sense such things. That kappa was old and his human guise was well formed.”

Saguru shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn’t sure how much to accept as fact. His logical side was saying that Akako was completely nuts. However, since their conversation at the Kahaku museum, they’d become close. He trusted her and knew she had sound logic and a brilliant mind. He knew that she considered herself a witch and that she practiced the Wiccan arts, but this… this was on a whole other level. Kappas… mythical creatures… Was she saying they were real? This went beyond mere religious belief. Could he even accept the possibility that the existence of the supernatural was real outside of religious context?

“Alright,” Saguru swallowed, deciding that he’d just have to trust his friend’s judgment and be as open-minded as possible. “So what does that mean?”

“It means,” Akako frowned, “that Yamaguchi-san’s illness might not be natural. I’m going to have to consult Lucifer. I’ll get back to you later about the matter and we can go visit Kyou-chan again.”

Saguru nodded, sighing as he slouched back into his seat, not caring for a moment about proper posture and etiquette. His world was being turned on its ear and it wasn’t even the bloody Kaitou Kid’s fault this time. It was a good thing the workspace in Studio Two was going to be ready in the morning. Saguru needed something to take his mind off of witchcraft and the possibility that logic was about to fly right out the window on a broomstick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MG: Alright, that's the first part of the Disguise Arc. I am actually over-the-moon excited because Halloween is my favorite holiday and I get to write Kaito a heist. I'm glad I got to work in my head canon that Kid and Sonoko are buds. They were canonically friends in the Magic Lovers Murder Case (manga ch 192-196). In case you haven't read it (so, spoilers ahead), Sonoko tells Ran about this presumably cute guy, Doito Katsuki, that she’s been talking to about magic on the internet. It sounds like they’ve had lots of conversations and got to know each other, and he's her favorite person in the chat group. During the case it's revealed that “Doito Katsuki” is actually Kaitou Kid in disguise (lol Kaito, way to be obvious). So despite the almost infinite breadth of the internet, Sonoko unintentionally manages to zero in on Kaitou Kid and make friends with him. I like to think that they continued talking because Kid needs friends and Sonoko's just as much of a drama queen as he is. The Green Emperor heist is much later in the manga (ch 862-864), so I won't spoil it other than what's hinted at in the text.
> 
> SR: I know I haven't read that far yet, but I look forward to reading that particular heist. ;) In this chapter I got to introduce Hakuba's aunt, Kikyo, and start to hint at the family life he has on his mother's side. I also got to delve more into what Hakuba is like outside of work, which is never really explored in the canon. We also got to see more of our OCs, and Kyou managed to charm her way into becoming a recurring minor character. I think MG and I had a little too much fun brainstorming and plotting what's in store for her and our main leads. Akako got some screen time and will be getting more in the future. I've been enjoying writing her friendship with Hakuba. And MAGIC IS REAL! Poor Hakuba is going to be in for it.
> 
> MG: Oh, we had WAY too much fun brainstorming, definitely. *cue the evil cackle and creepy music in the background* And have I mentioned that I get to write a Halloween heist? ;) (Yes, MG, we heard, stop squealing)
> 
> SR: Yes, but not before I get to write Hakuaba's gender-bend challege! *squeals excitedly* GOD I can't wait to write this! And this story has developed sub-plots galore. I can't wait to see where we take Akako and Kyou's storyline and see what's going on in Kaito's Shibuya safe-house. I also look forward to seeing what we can do with Akako and Sonoko's characters. I love that we are taking these important minor ladies and giving them time to shine and expand upon their characters.
> 
> MG: Indeed, they deserve some love and screen time.
> 
> SR: Please leave a comment below! We appreciate any bit of feedback you can give us!


	5. The Disguise Challenge (Part 2)

SAGURU

“Really, Sa-chan? Those shoes with that skirt? They go with the blouse but will ruin the overall look of the outfit.” Saguru huffed in irritation, trying to resist to the urge to bang his head on the worktable. “I’m just trying to help,” the man in front of him pouted.

“Here, Sa-chan,” his aunt Kikyo said as she brought over a pair of shoes. “These are similar to the ones you picked out. They have a bit of a heel, but I can assure you that they will be comfortable to wear.”

“Ah! Excellent choice, Kikyo, my love,” the man beamed. “Those go much better with the skirt and even complement the accents on the blouse. And speaking of the skirt, Sa-chan, are you _sure_ you don’t want something shorter? You have beautifully long legs and a shorter skirt would show them off better. And a pencil skirt is so dull. Lets pick out something that will give you a better shape to work with the figure you’re going for.”

This time Saguru did bang his head on the worktop.

Last week after Saguru had started working in the studio workspace he’d rented from his Aunt Kikyo, he’d had the misfortune of having his plans and materials left out when she and her husband, Tahito Lyle, had poked their heads in to say hi.

Uncle Lyle was the son of a Japanese father and French mother. He had been schoolmates with Hakuba’s mother and had been working as a model for a Beau Vous fashion show when he’d first met Kikyo. She’d been assigned as his stylist that day and it had been a love-at-first-sight kind of deal. Lyle was unique, to put it mildly, and the opposite of the kind of spouse the Hakuba family had wanted for their youngest daughter. Kikyo went along with everything he threw at her and she didn't bat an eye when he spontaneously cross-dressed. She helped him coordinate outfits, actually, and Saguru had once caught them out on a date pretending to be a lesbian couple. He supposed that it was the carefree and happy way that Lyle lived his life that had attracted Kikyo to him.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at it – Uncle Lyle’s eccentric lifestyle made him the perfect consultant for Saguru’s challenge. Ever since his aunt and uncle found out what his “project” was, they’d been very enthusiastic with helping him. They hadn’t even bothered to ask him why he was cross-dressing. It only mattered that he was doing it and that (in Lyle’s opinion) he was in need of some serious help.

“Fine!” Saguru finally huffed in answer to his uncle’s suggestion, “but nothing too short. It needs to be long enough to hide the custom spanks I’m going to be wearing underneath.”

“Done!” Lyle beamed as he left the room to pick out something else.

“I’m probably going to have to pick out a new blouse and another pair of shoes to go with it too,” Saguru grumbled. “Bloody hell!”

“He means well,” Kikyo chuckled warmly. “I think he’s just excited that you’re trying something like this. He’s wanted to dress you up for ages and now’s his chance to pass along some of his knowledge.”

“I know. I’m not sure who’s worse, him or Mum,” Saguru sighed, running a hand through his hair as he returned his attention to the molds that he’d left sitting overnight. He’d spent a few days sculpting facial prosthetics on a life cast of his face and a chest appliance on a body cast. It had been a little disconcerting coming in that first day to see that his aunt already had up-to-date facial and body casts of him ready. However, it had saved time and he decided to just not think about how his aunt had come by them (though he had a sneaking suspicion his mother was involved somehow). He’d actually been in the middle of sculpting his chest piece when his aunt and uncle had paid him a visit and discovered the nature of his project. Being a “professional” cross-dresser himself, Lyle had suggested some great ideas on how to smooth out Saguru’s facial structure.

Saguru already had high cheekbones and a somewhat feminine look around his eyes (much to his irritation). It had just been his jaw structure that needed to be softened and rounded out. Make-up would take care of the rest. As for the body, Lyle agreed with Saguru’s assessment that having C-cup range breasts was better than going around with huge knockers on his chest.

Saguru thought that Lyle had taken a little too much delight in pointing out that Saguru already had a slim willowy figure that made a great base to build up from. Saguru was aware that he was a little narrow in the shoulders, which was why he wore suits with shoulder pads all the time. In this case, though, his slim body type would be a good thing. He didn’t have to worry about having to hide bulky muscles in his torso and calf-muscles.

Lyle returned with a new skirt that was a lot shorter than the one that Saguru had originally chosen, but it was at least the same color, so Saguru wouldn’t have to change any of his other clothing choices.

“When are you going to try it all on?” Lyle asked. “If Kikyo and I need to make adjustments and change any fittings in the clothes, we need to know soon. You’re going out in this over the weekend, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Saguru sighed, setting aside the clean facial mold to work on cleaning out the clay in his chest appliance mold. “I’ll have to. There is no other time before I fly back to England to help Mum with her charity event.”

That was another wrench thrown into the works. A few days ago his mother had called to check up on him and to ask him to come home so that he could help her with a Halloween charity event she was hosting. “Please, Sa-chan,” she’d begged. “I’m just in way over my head. Michael DuPont has injured himself and I need someone to cover for him as head of the makeup department. The other artists are great, of course, but they lack direction and don’t know what I’m going for! You’re so good at costume make-up and take charge of a situation so well! I _really_ could use your help on this, sweetheart.”

His mother really had sounded as if she were at her wits end so Saguru had agreed (though she could have been acting – it was hard to tell over the phone). Now he only had a couple more days to pull his own project together in order to fulfill the challenge in a timely manner, and he had to somehow let Kid know about his plans to leave the country. He could always just tell Kuroba, but the magician was stubborn. Kuroba and Kid were to be treated as separate beings because Kuroba would never admit to being Kid. It was too bad, really. Saguru was going to have to miss Kid’s Halloween heist. At least he would get to see it on video due to the parameters of the thief’s challenge, but that was never the same as actually being there. Oh well.

Saguru set aside his clean molds and took a look at the clothes that Lyle had laid out for him. He’d chosen a nice cream blouse with a slight v-neck that didn’t dip down too much into cleavage territory, with a designer jean jacket to go over it. The new skirt that Lyle had brought out for him was navy like the long knee-length pencil skirt he’d originally chosen, but this one stopped several inches above the knees and flared out a bit with furls of satin material, giving the skirt a layered wave look to it, with little sparkles and sequins sown in that flashed when they caught the light. Now that Saguru looked at it with the blouse and jacket, he realize that the glittery bits of the skirt tied into the glitter accents on the jacket, and the sheen of the satin tied in to the creamy sheen of the blouse. The shoes Kikyo had suggested were navy two-inch-heel sandals with the same kind of glitter accent on them as the jacket and skirt, tying the whole thing together and creating a tasteful, girly appearance.

“I’ll try everything on once the chest appliance is done,” Saguru declared, “so hopefully tomorrow evening everything will be ready for a fitting.” He and his aunt carefully poured the silicon and foam latex mixtures into the right molds and set them aside to settle. “Well that’s all we can do this evening,” he sighed.

“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Kikyo promised. “Have a good night, Sa-chan.”

“And don’t forget to shave your legs!” Lyle winked.

 

KAITO

“Wake up, lazybones, it’s almost noon.” Kaito pulled the covers further over his head, hoping that maybe if he couldn’t see Aoko, she couldn’t see him. He was willing to invoke child’s logic if it meant getting more sleep. He’d been up all night plotting for the Halloween heist and had finally collapsed into bed around seven.

Lady Luck must have also been exhausted, however, since Aoko yanked the pillow out from under his head and bopped him with it. “C’mon, Kaito, you promised you’d come with Aoko today.”

“I did no such thing,” Kaito replied from under the comforter, though he’d given up on going back to sleep at this point. “You informed me last week after the soccer match that I would be going with you to the Tokyo Tower today, and I’m really quite sure I said no.”

“Please? There’s a special event today at the Guinness World Records Museum.” Kaito was reluctant to admit it, but that museum – one of the many attractions in the building at the base of the Tower – was pretty cool. Plus, Aoko had said please, and heist planning could wait when friendship called.

He sighed melodramatically, rolling out of bed. “I _suppose_ I could come with you. Give me twenty minutes to get dressed and eat something, m’kay?” Aoko smiled brightly and left the room to put on a kettle for tea. Kaito wrestled on a pair of jeans and battled the dresser for a clean t-shirt before following her down to the kitchen.

Aoko, as it turned out, was a master of bait-and-switch. This wasn’t news to Kaito, of course, having known her for ages, but after minimal sleep, he was less than capable of detecting when she was going to turn “just one museum” into “an all-day outing”. He grumbled when they disembarked the train much too early to be headed towards the tower, but allowed Aoko to lead him around the city. They hit two bookstores that were having sales, and both teenagers left happy. Aoko picked out some how-to guides for sewing projects and a romance novel, and Kaito bought three manga he knew she wanted and a popular technology magazine.

Aoko found a cute black dress in one of the clothing boutiques, trilling cheerfully that she was going to dress up as a witch for Halloween this year, even though she was just handing out candy. “Where do you think Aoko could find a witch’s hat?”

“Koizumi’s lair,” he coughed. Then, louder, he answered, “We passed a costume store that had Halloween decorations up in the window displays. Maybe they have something.” They did indeed have witch’s hats, to Aoko’s delight.

“The museum’s next,” Aoko promised after two more clothing stores, a chocolate shop, and half a dozen places filled with knick-knacks.

“Silly Aoko. We’re not going to want to carry all of this around in the museum. Plus, I assume we’re going to end up in the Trick Art Gallery, one of the restaurants, and the tower’s observatory too.”

She didn’t look ashamed at all, grinning widely. “Yeah, probably. The Aquarium Gallery’s out of the question today.”

“Or any day when I’m with you, for that matter.”

Aoko laughed. “Alright. We’re not that far from Ekoda. Let’s drop our stuff off at home and then hop over to the tower. Does that sound like a decent plan?” Kaito nodded.

The lines for the Guinness World Records Museum were atrociously long. “Want to go to the observatory first?” Aoko asked.

“Good idea. There will probably be fewer people in line as soon as dinner time rolls around.”

“Awesome.” Kaito told bad jokes in the elevator on the ride up to the main observatory, which Aoko appreciated immensely and an elderly couple from the Netherlands did not. She was still snorting as the doors opened, and Kaito let out a couple of chuckles too before stepping onto the floor. Aoko rushed to the windows to get a look at the city, and Kaito followed her at a more sedate pace, interested in the people mulling around the observatory. Most visitors had cameras, ranging from old, cheap point-and-shoots to some really sweet DSLR’s that Kaito would love to play with. There were tourists from all over the world, judging by the assortment of languages being spoken and the differences in attire. The majority of folks here were in groups, trying to crowd everyone into the camera’s view while one member gestured to so-and-so to move to the right, no, the left, no, just a teensy bit back, yeah, that’s perfect, say cheese! Some avid photographers were alone, focused on capturing the entirety of the cityscape in the late afternoon light.

About a quarter of a way around the floor was a girl leaning against the bars, like other tourists, but she was facing inward rather than straining to take in the outside view. From the way her gaze swept around, she was also inspecting the crowd. She was tall, with honey blonde hair piled artfully atop her head and sandals that boosted her another couple inches. The heel on the sandals did wonders for her already exceptional legs, which led smoothly into her indigo skirt. Kaito’s eyes moved up her torso. One arm was draped casually on the bar with a disposable camera in her grip. Her makeup was tastefully well-done, and those eyes –

_Shit_.

Kaito felt his jaw drop. That was Hakuba. As in _Hakuba_. As in oh my _gods_ he knocked this challenge out of the park! How did he do that? He didn’t habitually cross-dress like Kaito did – or at least, that’s what Kaito had assumed. The magician had thought that it would be interesting to see what Hakuba had learned from Kid’s disguises, and had anticipated that the detective’s attempt would be amusing, but this was totally unexpected. Lady Hakuba looked extremely comfortable in her apparel, including whatever apparatus was strapped on to give her a nice chest. Damn.

Kaito glanced back at Aoko, who was snapping away on her mobile phone’s camera. He wound his way around vaguely in Lady Hakuba’s direction, trying not to make it look like he was zeroing in on her. He could introduce himself and do a couple magic tricks. It was well within character for Kaito to strike up a conversation with a stranger, and depending on how the exchange played out, he might even hint that he recognized Hakuba. It wouldn’t do to say so outright, because Kuroba Kaito wasn’t supposed to know that Hakuba had been dared to masquerade as a woman. Kaito could offer to take her picture with the camera, since Hakuba had clearly come alone and was supposed to bring physical evidence of completing the challenge to their next post-heist meeting. Kaito hadn’t expected to see Lady Hakuba in person, but this was a pleasant surprise.

Hmm. Another teen girl jogged up next to Lady Hakuba to look out the window, and Hakuba turned and said something to her. Kaito couldn’t tell from this distance if Hakuba had done something to change his voice, but the Japanese girl wasn’t looking at him oddly, so Lady Hakuba must sound all right. The stranger smiled and nodded, holding a hand out for Lady Hakuba’s camera. Kaito’s plan to take a souvenir photo for her had come mere minutes too late, it seemed. He edged closer anyway to see if he could hear what they were saying.

“Thank you,” Lady Hakuba was saying to the girl in a convincing, throaty alto with a hint of a French accent as Kaito got within earshot. “I’m visiting from France, so I’m afraid I don’t know too many people here in Japan. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The girl with green eyes smiled again. “Tha pleasure’s mutual. Ya’ve gotta good grasp on tha language fer a foreigner. My name’s Toyama Kazuha.”

“Renee Benoit. Ah, my apologies, it’s ‘Benoit Renee’ here.” It was an intentional mistake, but it made sense for the tourist persona Hakuba had donned. “Are you from Tokyo?”

“Nah, I’m in town fer tha weekend with some friends. I live in Osaka. Ya should definitely visit there if ya haven’t already.”

Kaito opened his mouth to introduce himself when a teen with a baseball cap stormed over, drawing both the girls’ – er, Hakuba and Toyama-san’s – attention. The guy was muttering about how some people always ran off without waiting for everyone else. Toyama-san took a deep breath to give him a what-for when Kaito recognized him from Kid’s research: Hattori Heiji, Detective of the West and friends with that miniature menace from Beika.

Kaito had… _borrowed_ the Detective Koushien case files from the police station after everything had been sorted out, because really, how could he pass up information about a gathering of teenage detectives? Two of Kid’s most fervent troublemakers had been in attendance, and he’d needed to see if the group would ever join forces for a Kid heist.

_Oh._ Kaito realized something else: Hattori knew Hakuba, and they didn’t get along, and Hakuba was here dressed as a woman. Kaito didn’t actually want Hakuba’s reputation to be destroyed. These challenges were supposed to be a bit of fun, not harmful. Therefore, Kaito might have to run some interference if Hattori started looking at her chest too closely.

Kaito opened his mouth again to introduce himself.

This was about to get interesting in a variety of ways.

 

SAGURU

Saguru had been apprehensive after he’d put the whole disguise on that morning. Everything fit great and his chest appliance had come out even better than he’d hoped, the seams being perfectly thin and easy for his aunt to blend into his skin for a flawless and natural look. The custom padded spanks also helped to give him a figure while also helping hide his male bits. Then there was the choker. Saguru knew that he was a decent actor, but he also knew that he’d never be able to pull off speaking consistently in a female voice like Kid could, so he’d made a voice changer and fit it into the choker he was wearing to hide his Adam’s apple. The device stimulated Hakuba’s vocal cords and, after some mild adjustments and calibrations, helped heighten the pitch of his voice from a male’s tenor range to a woman’s alto.

Saguru had also decided at the last minute not to wear a wig. He was afraid that if it got caught on something or someone pulled on it and he’d be revealed. So he’d spent a good chunk of his morning sitting in a salon chair, allowing his aunt to color his real hair a couple shades lighter and added long hair extensions – which thankfully they could do. Saguru made a mental note to get a hair cut after the challenge was over. It was getting a little shaggy. While getting his hair done, Lyle had started painting his toenails – because what self-respecting woman Saguru’s age wouldn’t paint her nails if she was going to be wearing sandals and a cute outfit while out on the town? – and applied acrylic French-manicure fingernails.

After his aunt and uncle were finished dressing and making him up, he’d had to blink in bewilderment at the mirror. He looked great. Now he needed to perfect the assumed identity that went with the appearance. Fortunately, he’d thought of that. “Uncle Lyle, do you have Renee’s passport?”

“Her things are right here,” he answered, pointing to a bag on the table. “Her eyes are a bit different from yours, but you could suggest that the glare from her glasses affected that. The difference in hair color can easily be explained with hair dye.” Saguru had met Uncle Lyle’s niece Renee Benoit a few times on some of his visits to Paris and found her to be as eccentric as her uncle. During the planning stages for this event, Lyle had called his favorite niece up and asked if it would be alright for Saguru to borrow her identity for an afternoon. Now a normal person would (should) have been appalled to have their identity borrowed (unless it involved Kid and they were fans), but Renee had actually been excited to learn about the project and had given her permission on the condition that she be sent pictures of “her time in Tokyo.” She had even asked if she should come out to Japan for the occasion, but Saguru shot that idea down quickly before Lyle got any more ideas (probably something dealing with the two of them pretending to be sisters), and reassured Renee that it wasn’t necessary for her to come out. The girl had mailed him her passport and one of her cellphones anyway “for authenticity sake,” and said she would see him when he returned to London for his mother’s charity event. God, was everyone in his family with European blood nuts? If so, Saguru could only wonder about his own sanity. He was willingly cross-dressing and having secret late-night meetings to exchange challenges with the thief who was probably the closest thing he’d ever had to a best friend. Lord help him.

Irrational antics from his relations (and quite possibly himself) aside, Saguru gathered what he needed, grudgingly including Renee’s passport and cellphone. After the first few nerve-wracking moments upon leaving the studio and catching a bus to Tokyo Tower, Saguru had started to relax and actually began to enjoy himself. He could now kind of understand why Kid chose to disguise as a woman a lot of the time. People opened doors for him, allowed him to take their seat on the bus, and were generally nice to him. The downside was the lechers. He’d had a rather uncomfortable moment on the bus when a man was leering at him and had patted his ass as he walked past to get off. _That_ Saguru could have done without.

Now he was at Tokyo Tower and bought a disposable camera at the souvenir store. There was some kind of event going on downstairs, so Saguru decided to just head up and have his picture taken on one of the observation deck floors. Keeping in character, Saguru took a selfie of himself on the camera for Renee, before looking around at the crowd, hoping to find someone to take a couple decent pictures of him for his challenge.

To his surprise and unease, he saw Kuroba and Aoko as they exited the elevator. Saguru made sure not to openly watch them, taking a moment to compose himself. He kept tabs on Kuroba out of the corner of his eye, though, and it was amusing to see his rival staring at him with a slack jaw. He couldn’t be sure if Kuroba had recognized him or not, but this was starting to become fun. Maybe he could mess with Kuroba a bit. His classmate was clearly intent on making some kind of contact with him, as the trickster slipped away from Aoko and started subtly making his way over towards Saguru.

When a girl his age came up next to him and he asked her to take his picture, she started up a conversation and he lost track of Kuroba. Then one of Toyama’s companions joined them, and it was Hattori Heiji. Shit. Saguru recovered quickly from his shock while the hotheaded detective and Toyama bickered, but now he was feeling nervous. Hattori might be a rather rash individual, but he was perceptive… and so was the little boy that Saguru could now see ducking between legs to reach them. Crap. Edogawa Conan was here too with his guardian, Mouri Ran. Edogawa was even better at noticing things than Hattori. After a minor internal panic attack, Saguru reassured himself that his disguise was well put together and neither of his fellow detectives had reason to suspect he was anyone other than Renee Benoit.

Saguru would’ve excused himself to find someone else to take the damn picture, but Toyama had his camera. “Ah, pardon me,” Saguru tried to speak up over the two Osakans’ growing argument.

“Ah! Sorry!” Toyama exclaimed, turning back around to face him and ignored Hattori altogether. “I was gonna take yer picture fer ya.”

“Geez, Kazuha,” Hattori huffed, noticing Saguru. “Sorry, ‘bout my friend. She’s a bit scatterbrained. Name’s Hattori Heiji.”

“Benoit Renee,” Saguru said, introducing “herself”.

“Oi! Heiji-niichan! Kazuha-neechan!” Edogawa’s young voice piped up.

“You two shouldn’t wander off like that,” Mouri huffed as she joined them. “We almost lost you in the crowd.”

“Ah, sorry, Ran-chan,” Toyama gasped, bowing deeply in apology.

Hattori, who had been criticizing Toyama for the same offense, changed the subject. “Kazuha, ya still got Benoit-han’s camera,” he pointed out.

“Shut it, ahou, I know that,” Toyama scowled at her friend before returning her attention to Saguru. “Sorry. Where did ya want yer picture taken?”

“Uh, I think here is good,” Saguru replied with a smile, trying to relax even though both Hattori and Edogawa were watching him. While Kazuha snapped a couple pictures, Edogawa’s eyes were sharp and intense and Hattori was staring at him with a curious expression. Did they suspect something?

“Have we met somewhere before, nee-chan?” Edogawa asked in that childish voice that didn’t fool Saguru for a moment. Hattori’s eyes narrowed a bit, looking at him.

“I don’t believe so,” Saguru responded, frowning. Edogawa’s gaze didn’t lose any of its intensity.

“Ya know… ya do look familiar,” Hattori mused. “Ya ever been ta Osaka before?”

“No,” Saguru answered truthfully, shaking his head, “though I have visited Tokyo a couple times before now. I have some family here.” He smiled at Toyama as she handed the camera back to him.

“And yet I don’t see anyone accompanying ya. Did ya come here alone?” Hattori asked, an eyebrow rising.

“Shouldn’t someone be showing you around, nee-chan?” Edogawa asked. “You’re not familiar with Japan, right?”

“My relatives are rather busy today,” Saguru replied, “and I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”

“Heiji, quit pestering her,” Toyama snapped.

“Yeah, what’s with all the questions, you two?” Mouri asked. Hattori and Edogawa looked like they were about to respond when someone called out to Saguru.

“Ah! Benoit-chan!” Saguru blinked in surprise, not having expected Kuroba to appear even though he knew that his classmate was around.

“Hello,” Kuroba smiled, nodding his head in acknowledgment of Hattori’s group before returning his attention to Saguru. “I believe we met at the Ota Memorial Museum the other day. What a coincidence that we'd run into each other again. I'm Kuroba Kaito, if you don't remember.” Kuroba paused and Saguru tried to gather his scattered thoughts, wondering what the magician was up to. After a moment, Kuroba continued with a smile that seemed uncomfortable, “Perhaps I was mistaken.” He magicked a rose into his hand and held it out to Saguru as an apology.

Well, if there were any doubts before about whether Kuroba had recognized Saguru, there weren’t any now. Kuroba was up to something, but Saguru didn't have time to deduce what it was because Hattori-bloody-Heiji was standing there trying to figure out why Renee Benoit looked so familiar. “Ah! No, you were not mistaken. I've been to so many museums in the past week that it took a moment to place you. Pleased to see you again. Kuroba-kun, right.”

Kuroba beamed. “How’s your visit going?”

“It’s been great,” Saguru smiled, startling when his cellphone suddenly rang. It was Lyle. Saguru made a mental note to switch over to French. “ _Bonjour_?”

“ _How’s it going? You haven’t run into any troubles I trust?_ ” Lyle answered back in French.

“ _Nothing I can’t handle_ ,” Saguru sighed, leaning against the rail. A sudden idea struck him. Hattori and Edogawa were suspicious because Saguru still looked enough like himself to be familiar. Well if he was ever going to get them off his back… “ _How’s your project coming?_ ”

“ _Project? Ah! You_ have _run into some trouble, haven’t you?_ ” Lyle chuckled.

“You’ve run into some trouble?” Saguru huffed, switching back to Japanese and playing up Renee’s character. “If you’re that concerned about it, ask Saguru. He’ll be able to tell what looks authentic and what doesn’t, unless he’s ignoring you.”

“Ah! You wound me! Why would my sweet nephew ignore me?”

“Why indeed,” Saguru commented dryly. “Ask the detective himself. Well, I’m fine. I’ll see you when I return. _Au revoir_.” Clicking his phone shut, Saguru returned his attention to the group before him. “Sorry. That was my uncle checking in.”

“I couldn’t help overhearing, but is your cousin a detective too?” Mouri asked.

“Too?” Saguru asked, feigning confusion.

“Heiji an’ Ran-chan’s dad are detectives,” Kazuha explained.

Saguru smiled. “Ah. Then maybe you know my cousin, Hakuba Saguru.”

“Hakuba?!” Hattori gaped. “Yer related ta that guy?”

“He’s my uncle’s wife’s nephew,” Saguru explained. “I see him all the time when he visits France. Tell me, are you a Holmes fanatic as well, Hattori-san?”

“Hell no!” Hattori protested. “Kudo’s tha Holmes nut.” Edogawa narrowed his eyes at Hattori and started demanding what was wrong with Sherlock Holmes.

Saguru was relieved to see most of the suspicion gone from Hattori and Edogawa’s eyes. They’d bought it. Kuroba looked torn between amusement and surprise. Saguru winked at him.

 

KAITO

Either Hakuba did this regularly, or he had composure made of iron. Kaito was surprised at the wink that came his way, but he was quick to reciprocate. Lady Hakuba – or Renee Benoit, as she’d introduced herself – had neatly deflected the suspicion of the other two detectives.

Now that a pair of overly nosy gumshoes wouldn’t be following, Kaito made a move to extract Hakuba from the situation. “Benoit-chan, do you have dinner plans this evening? There are several restaurants downstairs, and my dear friend and I would be delighted to have extra company. I believe you’d get along splendidly with us.” He held out an arm.

Hakuba gave him a very sarcastic quirk of the eyebrows before he returned to the façade. “I’m sure I will.” He looped his arm through Kaito’s, though not without a brief moment of hesitation. Turning back to the group, he bowed to Toyama. “Thank you, Toyama-san. I can hardly wait to send these pictures home.”

“Not a problem,” she beamed. “Here, lemme give ya my number, in case ya ever come ta Osaka.” She tore a corner off of a receipt from her purse and scrawled a phone number on it. Hakuba thanked her again before he and Kaito left them.

“Your hair is stunning, Benoit-chan,” Kaito commented blithely as the two crossed the room back to where Aoko was standing. “Are you a natural blonde?”

“You flatter me, _Monsieur Kuroba_.”

Kaito smiled. So they’d be keeping up the façade in public even when no one was listening. Cautious as always. “You’re the kind of girl that deserves to be flattered. Adventurous, intelligent, lovely.”

“How could you have drawn all those conclusions about me?” Hakuba asked. There might have been some subtle batting of eyelashes. “We’ve only met twice.”

Kaito ticked off the three points on his fingers. “It takes bravery to venture out alone in a country where your primary language isn’t spoken. You studied up quite a bit about the Japanese language, culture, and art, as evidenced by our encounter at the museum. And dear, it doesn’t take a detective to tell that you’re gorgeous. _That_ was the easiest deduction this humble magician could ever make.”

“You’ve got quite the way with words, _Monsieur Kuroba_.”

“I come by it honestly.” The conversation ended as they reached Aoko, and Kaito introduced the “girls” with a smile. “Aoko, this is Benoit Renee. We met a week ago at a museum and I just spotted her here. I just learned that Benoit-chan is Hakuba-kun’s cousin. Sort of. She’s visiting her family here. Benoit-chan, this is Nakamori Aoko.”

Aoko held out a hand to shake, apparently remembering the western custom. “Pleased to meet you, Benoit-san.”

Hakuba shook her hand. “The pleasure is mine. I hope you don’t mind that Kuroba-kun invited me to join you. I’d hate to intrude.”

“Not at all. Aoko would love to hear about your travels so far. Where else have you been since you got to Japan?” Kaito smiled to himself as Aoko took a genuine interest in Renee, asking all sorts of questions while they rode the elevator down to the restaurants. She didn’t stop when they were seated, and every once in a while Kaito would toss in a question to test the limits of Hakuba’s cover story. The light kicks under the table proved that his mischief had not gone unnoticed.

Hakuba finally got a chance to take a sip of his water when Aoko excused herself to the ladies’ room. Kaito caught sight of the fake nails and grinned. Hakuba had been very thorough with the details. Hakuba saw the direction of his gaze and kicked him again.

“Benoit-chan, so forward! Only the second date and you’re playing footsie with me.”

“I think _you’re_ the forward one, Kuroba-kun. I wouldn’t call these chance encounters dates. You’d have to be quite a bit more charming for that.” The retort was followed by a scream from behind Kaito, and the magician whipped around to find the source. On the other side of the restaurant there was a woman who’d knocked her chair over and was pointing at one of the other people from her table. The man had fallen onto the ground and lay there unmoving, his glass spilling a light liquid and a handful of ice down the tablecloth and onto the floor.

When Kaito turned back around to see Hakuba’s reaction, he found the cross-dressing detective’s chair empty. “So much for staying under the radar,” he muttered, and took off after Hakuba towards the crime scene. And what a coincidence, the trouble magnet was eating here too, along with the three teens he’d come with.

Hakuba whipped his camera out, snapping shots of the scene and the victim. Hattori sidled up beside him, trying to keep other people away. Someone else at the table – not the hysterical woman – had contacted the police, and the munchkin had gloves out and was examining the body. The two teenage detectives were getting along better than Kaito had expected, but then, Hattori didn’t know who he was working with.

“Benoit-chan?” Kaito ventured. “Doesn’t forensics usually take the photos?”

Hattori answered for him. “It’s tha ice. By the time tha cops get here, it’ll all be melted. I don’t know the stats for folks puttin’ poison in ice, but it’s better to have them in case that’s what happened.” He looked over at Hakuba. “Do ya follow your cousin’s cases or somethin’?”

“No,” Hakuba answered, “I’ve just heard enough about some of them during his visits and I read enough mystery fiction to know the gist of things.”

The authorities showed up and Hattori took charge to inform them what had happened. Hakuba was remarkably staying out of things for the most part, but wasn’t afraid to butt in and add anything that the Osakan had missed, and the bespectacled boy made sure to ask the right question, in that innocent voice of his, to people’s attention. Kaito just stood there alone, trying not to get in everyone’s way. Aoko hadn’t wanted to leave him and “Benoit-san” but she had to go home after a call from her father. Something about taking their cat to the vet.

Finally, after what felt like forever to the bored magician, it looked like the underage detectives were satisfied with the proceedings and the culprit was being taken into custody.

Hakuba looked surprised to see Kaito still standing there. “I thought you’d left.”

“Benoit-chan, I wouldn’t abandon a lady in distress.”

“Distress?”

“It’s late and you haven’t eaten yet because the case came up. C’mon, I’ll take you somewhere with good food, okay?”

More surprise. “If you insist.” Kaito held out his arm again, and this time Hakuba didn’t hesitate to take it.

Halfway through the main course at a restaurant on the other side of the city, Hakuba’s phone rang. He frowned, but answered. “Hello?”

Kaito could hear the other end of the conversation from his seat. “This was the phone number left to the Minato police division by Benoit Renee. Is this her?”

“Yes.”

“We’d like you to come in about something concerning the incident at Tokyo Tower.”

Kaito watched Hakuba start to panic a little. “Is there a problem?” He’d needed to show them his passport as identification, Kaito remembered. Had they found something wrong with it?

“I’m sorry about the oversight, but because things were so busy at the scene, we neglected to collect your camera, which contains photo evidence. Please bring it to the station at your earliest convenience.”

“You’re confiscating my camera?” Hakuba clarified, looking defeated.

“Temporarily, yes. As soon as the case is wrapped up, we will return it to you. If you’ve left the country by then, we can have it mailed to your address.” What Kaito realized, and what Hakuba had undoubtedly already thought of, was that all of the evidence that Hakuba had collected for Kid’s challenge was on that camera. If Hakuba handed it in, the police would hold onto it for at least a month, way past the date of Kid’s next heist.

Hakuba sighed heavily. “I… alright. I’ll bring it in as soon as I can get there.”

Kaito nudged the detective’s foot after he’d hung up. “Don’t look so gloomy, Benoit-chan. You can always get another camera and take more pictures of this beautiful city.” And get the proof he needed for Kid.

“I’m leaving the country tomorrow to visit my relations in England. Today was my last opportunity.”

There was still a way, though: “Could you take pictures in England?”

“Not a chance.”

“Oh. Are you coming back to Japan?”

“Eventually.” Ah. Too late for the Halloween heist and too late for their next meeting.

Unless he came up with something soon, it seemed like Hakuba was going to fail his challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SR: Woo! And that was chapter five! We're leaving things on a rather interesting note this time, aren't we MG? God this chapter was so much fun to write, though I think every chapter for this story has and will continue to be fun to write. I think we were both laughing as we wrote this and read each others' parts. I really needed to be reeled in on this one. Between Lyle, Saguru and Renee, my plot bunnies ran wild. And we got to introduce Hattori and Conan! That was really fun to have them show up.
> 
> MG: Yeah, this was an interesting ending. What is Hakuba going to do? And our West and East detectives will definitely be brought up again eventually. Also, in case you were worried, Kaito hasn't outed himself as Kid to Hakuba by recognizing the detective in drag. At some point he questions Hakuba about the event, and of course Hakuba won't tell him why ;)
> 
> SR: In case any of you guys were wondering, a lot of the stuff from Hakuba's first part involving the prosthetics and chest appliances was based off of what I've seen on Sci-Fi Channel's Face Off. I have been watched Face Off for the last couple of months now and got totally hooked. It's actually what inspired this whole challenge to begin with as well as a lot of aspects in what I've integrated into Hakuba's character and his family. The plot bunnies would not leave me alone and way back when we were still writing the start of the Alphabet Heist/Word Challenge, I had to tell MG about my idea and we agreed that because we're nearing Halloween, it'd be Hakuba's next challenge and worked off of it to come up with Kaito/Kid's challenge. Speaking of which, I can NOT wait to see how Kid's Halloween heist goes down, MG.
> 
> MG: I'm looking forward to it too! Kaito's going to have a blast. Thanks for reading, and please leave a review! We appreciate every bit of feedback :)


	6. The Disguise Challenge (Part 3)

KAITO

Kaito flipped to the next page in the newspaper and whistled cheerfully to himself. He’d come up with a couple of challenge ideas to inflict on Hakuba if the detective didn’t manage to recover the camera, and the empty seat a few desks over suggested that “Benoit Renee” hadn’t been lying when she said she was leaving the country. Of course, the real Benoit Renee wasn’t in Japan to start with, and _that_ – the fact that Hakuba’s cover was more than just a name, that it was a whole _person_ he was borrowing – had been a bit of a surprise to Kaito when he’d gone to trace the passport Hakuba had shown and checked out with the police. He’d also found an airline reservation made by Mademoiselle Benoit bound for London that originated from Paris, France, as well as a reservation made by Hakuba Saguru from Japan to London to arrive on the same day. Kaito hadn’t expected him to utilize outside help. There wasn’t a formal rule against it, but of all challenges possible, Kaito had thought that Hakuba would want to keep this one quiet.

A quick trip to Facebook to look up the girl had proved that Benoit Renee and Hakuba Saguru were, in fact, distantly related. Renee had some old pictures on her page from a few family events back in middle school, and a few photos revealed, amidst the vast family, a slightly dorky, tween Hakuba Saguru. Kaito had practically squealed when he saw the link to Saguru James Hakuba’s Facebook page in the “suggested” column, because he could just _imagine_ the teasing material that he’d unearth there, but was disappointed to find that it was just a fan page. He was interested in a few pictures from a gaming convention that Renee had attended with her sort-of-cousin. The outgoing girl had fashioned a kick-ass homemade Zelda cosplay. The elegant dress would have made any one of Kaito’s female personas weep with envy. Hakuba stood next to the beautiful Zelda in an equally impressive Link ensemble, complete with sword and pointy ears. The detective was actually smiling in the picture. Kaito remembered Hakuba’s statement at the soccer match that he would probably be an elf, out of all the mythological creatures.

Kaito paused in the middle of whistling the refrain for “Magic” by The Cars – Renee had liked 80s music in middle school and had posted about it often – when he spotted a rather curious notice in the personals section. There were usually a handful of ads written in English, but this one piqued his interest, given the last riddle he’d exchanged with Hakuba. It read:

 

_TO THE WHITE RABBIT –_

_Stag kangaroo falcon nightingale mastiff badger corgi hummingbird barracuda butterfly leopard gecko toucan cat seal giraffe wombat puma raccoon monkey armadillo penguin moose tortoise gerbil rhinoceros snake rat gopher piranha sheep husky buffalo emu._

 

It was nonsense, but of an organized kind. There was some kind of word puzzle here. Kaito copied the words over into his math notebook and spent first period rearranging the letters to get some kind of coherent message. After math was English, and Kaito was too busy examining the individual letters to read properly. Thankfully, the teacher didn’t call on him today.

By fourth period, Kaito was about to give up on this monstrosity of a coded message. There were so many letters that the permutations were practically endless. He’d done the math earlier, and despaired at the prospects of stumbling upon the right order for the letters. It was possible that the message wasn’t even for him. Perhaps it was meant for a huge fan of Lewis Carroll. Reluctantly, he dragged himself back to the original message and read just the first letters to see if that meant something. Eh… no. Then he read just the last letters:

_g o n e f r i d a y d o n t l e t a n y o n e e l s e t r a p y o u_

_gone friday don’t let anyone else trap you_

Ah. Kid wasn’t supposed to know that Hakuba was going to miss the heist. This was the detective’s way of formally bowing out of the heist so that Kid wouldn’t track him down and demand to know why he’d skipped out. It was good thinking, since Hakuba didn’t have the Kaitou Kid’s contact information to otherwise let him know. Since Kid had accepted challenges made by Suzuki Jirokichi via newspaper, it was reasonable to guess that Kid regularly read the paper.

 

Kaito turned on the computer in the Kid room before he’d even put his backpack down after school. He logged onto the Kid forum and opened a chat box. \Afternoon, Sono-chan! How fare the party preparations?/

Kaito left to get a snack from the kitchen, and when he returned there was a response waiting for him: \Ah, Katsuki-kun! / It was safer to continue with a pseudonym in online media in case anyone ever came across the chat history. It would be hard for Sonoko to talk her way out of trouble if she called her correspondent “Kid” outright. This way, she could claim Katsuki did some Kid roleplay but that she didn’t actually believe he was the real thief. \The caterers are all lined up, and practically everyone who hadn’t responded before the notice was published replied that they’re coming. ^_^ If I hadn’t paid for the space already, I think Nakamori-keibu would have made the museum cancel on me/

\Timing in life is everything, I’ve been told. “Cancelled.” Haha. The absolute nerve of some people :P/

\Oh I KNOW! Will I get to see you on Friday before the heist, my charming dove?/

\Sono-chan! You know how that name makes me blush!/

\Which part do you object to? You can’t deny your ability to attract people – I have a zillion Kid fans as proof. And of course you couldn’t disagree with the idea that you take to the skies./

\You have a talent for hyperbole, my dear./

\I prefer the term “poetry”./

Kaito laughed. \Hmm. You have asked attendees to come in costume, correct?/

\OF COURSE. I CAN’T WAIT. You’re bringing my wings over tomorrow, right?/

\No promises that it will be tomorrow, but you will be the loveliest angel to grace the party, I assure you./ Kaito glanced over at the twin feathered contraptions made during short spurts of spare time over the past few weeks.

\Thank you!!!/

\Anytime, darling. But these wings do NOT have a hang glider concealed in them, be warned./

\Ha. I’ll try not to jump out of any windows./

\Excellent. I might stop by while you’re out, depending on other factors, so if not tomorrow, I’ll certainly see you Friday. Until then~ :)/

 

SAGURU

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“S’il vous plait?”

“Renee, why on Earth would asking me in French change my mind after the last thirty-seven times you’ve asked? No.”

Saguru rubbed at his temples in an attempt to ward of the impending headache. A couple of days ago Renee’s flight had landed at Heathrow Airport just before his and they’d shared a ride to the Reynolds’s Estate. Apparently his “cosplaying” as her in Tokyo brought them closer as family and made them the best of pals. She’d enjoyed the selfie pictures he’d taken on her phone – which were unfortunately badly composed and hardly showed any of his gender-swap guise (so they couldn’t count as proof for his challenge). And when hearing his account of how his day out as her had gone, she’d made him go into excruciating detail over every little thing in case she ever went to Japan and ran into Hattori and the others and needed to maintain Saguru’s cover story. Since then he’d hardly had more than a moment’s peace without her presence as she pestered him over what he was to wear to his mother’s charity event, suggesting themed costumes they could wear together, each one more ridiculous than the last. Her most recent suggestion was to dress up as identical twin characters. A theme as to what kind of twins hadn’t been decided yet, aside from the fact that it would involve Saguru dressing up as a woman again.

“Aww,” Renee pouted. “But it would be so much fun! And your mum would never see it coming.”

“That’s because I have refused to go along with such idiocies in the past.”

“But you pretended to be me for a day in Tokyo! I don’t see why we can’t be twins for the party.”

“That particular event was an extenuating circumstance. Also, I don’t want to give my mother any ideas and you’ve _sworn_ on your honor as a lady that you wouldn’t tell anyone. And I mean _anyone,_ Renee.”

“Relax, Jamie. I’m not going to tell Aunty Lizzy about your day of cross-dressing. You threatened to stop helping me with my cosplays if I did, and I _really_ need your help with my Victorian Steam Punk ensemble.”

Saguru shook his head, again questioning his European relations’ sanity. Ignoring Renee for the moment as she chattered for the hundredth time of what she wanted her cosplay costume to look like for some convention coming up in November, Saguru returned to the task he’d been appointed to by his mother.

So far he’d had to scrap a lot of the designs that the hired costume and makeup designers had come up with for the charity event. His mother had been very clear that this was to be a charity event fundraising for children’s education and that the theme was haunted fairytale stories. Most costume designs had been either too bloody and gory or too pretty and cute. The bunch that was hired had talent, that was for sure, but he doubted many of them had worked on a team and on a project of this scale before. When he’d first arrived he’d challenged them to pick a favorite fairytale character from their childhood and to warp that character as if they’d been twisted by the realities of Wonderland. Why Wonderland? Because when one referenced Tim Burton’s variation on the popular children’s story it could be as dark as it was whimsical, exactly what his mother was looking for.

Saguru supervised the development of these designs and after OK-ing them for fabrication, the artists got to work. He was surprised that none of them appeared to resent him for being younger than them or for the fact that he had been put in charge. Rather, they seemed to appreciate his input and often sought his advice on some aspects of their make-ups. But it probably had more to do with the fact that he was the elite fashion and make-up designer, Elizabeth Reynolds’s only son. He’d grown up around the industry and was very knowledgeable about fashion, fabrics, costuming, make-up and how it was applied. Simply knowing fashion and make-up tips could, however, put him in a gay stereotype. He would rather do without that stigma on top of everything else. Saguru was not homosexual – he liked men _and_ women, thank you very much – but all the same, he had done his best to hide this aspect of his life while living in Japan with his father.

While the designers were working on their projects Saguru himself was sculpting facial prosthetics for Mad Hatter and March Hare costumes. “You know, you’re really good at that,” Renee mused as she studied the two sculptures and three others that were set aside, ready for molding: the Red Queen, White Rabbit, and a flower fairy. “You should be a special effects make-up artist and work on movies like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or something, instead of being a detective.”

“Who says I can’t do both?” Saguru asked offhandedly. “Mum ropes me into her projects no matter where I am and what I’m doing anyway.”

“That’s not the same as making your own career out of it,” Renee sighed. “I’m sure with your talent, you’d be much more successful as a make-up artist than your are as a detective.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, _cousin_ ,” Saguru said coldly.

“Sorry. But aren’t you only doing detective work to impress your father? You’ve never been able to see or spend much of him even though you live with him now, right?” Saguru didn’t even deign that comment with a reply.

“…So what are you going to dress up as at the party?” Renee asked, quickly switching gears.

“Not your twin, that’s for sure,” Saguru scoffed, etching some details into the nose of the March Hare.

“Fine then. …Oh! I know! Be Legolas! And I can be Tauriel from the Hobbit movies!”

“Why do you want to coordinate costumes?” Saguru sighed.

“Because it’s more fun this way,” Renee pouted. “Please, Jamie?”

Saguru didn’t answer, tweaking the nose and smoothing out the shape of the brow on the Mad Hatter. He supposed that he could. Dressing up as Legolas and Tauriel from the Hobbit movies was a much better option then all of the other costume suggestions that Renee had come up with before. The idea of dressing up as an elf reminded him of his conversation with Kuroba.

_“If you had to be a mythological creature, what would you be?”_

A small smile quirked at the corners of his lips.

“Please? Please, Jamie? SJ? James? Sagaroo? Sa-chan?”

“…Fine.”

“Woo Hoo!”

 

KAITO

Kaito grinned like a fool as he fastened the monocle over his eye, and the thief in the mirror grinned back. “Ready?” he asked. Kaito checked the door one more time to make sure no one else could get into the public restroom, and switched on the camera that he’d glued to an old earring post. He’d carefully wiggled it into the hole that had been closing up in his left ear.

Waving at the mirror, Kaito began: “Good evening. As you can see –” he said to Hakuba, who would be reviewing the video afterwards “– I am in full costume. As per the parameters of our challenge, I am allowed to disguise myself until I reach twenty meters of the Mori Art Museum. I will leave the camera on and inform you when we – excuse me, _I_ – reach that point. Sound good?” Knowing that Hakuba couldn’t answer him, Kaito smiled brightly. He slipped on a jacket and a pair of dark pants and unlocked the door to the restroom. Kaito took off the top hat and held it casually under one arm, tucking the monocle inside it as he left the gas station. He’d planned to start the video in a public place so that Hakuba wouldn’t try to track his movements and figure out where he lived. Kaito slipped on a black baseball cap with the brim turned back and slung a backpack over his shoulder to look more like a student. Even though it was rather late for a student to be returning from classes or the library on a Friday.

Kids in small hordes passed by in costumes, babbling playfully and swinging half-full candy buckets. Even their grownups were lively tonight, stopping to compliment other children on cute or clever costumes. The young adults who were too old to trick-or-treat still made use of the opportunity for cosplay, and Kaito winked playfully at a faction of cat ladies. One of the girls giggled and Kaito produced a yellow rose for her.

“You look lovely, Neko-chan.” She brightened at the compliment. Peripherally, Kaito noticed her friends stop walking a few steps after she did.

“Who are you supposed to be?” she asked.

“Ah.” Perfect timing. Kaito donned the top hat and monocle and removed the dark coat with a flourish, revealing the white jacket and cape hidden underneath. “I am but a phantom thief, captivated by a jewel like you.”

The girl blushed. “You’re not wearing the white pants,” she murmured, looking off to the side shyly. “Haven’t you ever seen Kid on TV?”

Kaito laughed. “I’ve got white pants on under these, but I didn’t think you’d take too kindly to me stripping out of my pants in the middle of the street. I mean, I don’t even know your name, Neko-chan.”

Her face reddened further. One of her friends, a black cat with tall boots and a layered skirt, spoke up. “Minako-chan may not be comfortable with it, but I wouldn’t mind watching.” She eyed him like a cat that had cornered a mouse.

Kaito dropped a smoke bomb and stowed away the pieces of his darker disguise. He bowed when the smoke cleared. “How did I do? Was that like Kid’s tricks?”

The girl called Minako clapped. “That was great!”

“Thank you, my lady.” He took her hand a laid a kiss on it. Then, turning towards the second girl: “I notice that you are wearing all black, Neko-chan. Would you happen to be Chat Noir this evening? I have always assumed that the French cat burglar was a man, but you would be a beautiful rival for the Kaitou Kid.” No one was supposed to know that Chat Noir was a woman, and Hakuba wouldn’t hear it from Kid.

“I wasn’t planning on it, but I guess I could be. Are you worried about having a rival?”

Kaito thought of his classmate, who was out of the country, and the grade-school detective, who was probably out getting candy with the Detective Boys. “Not tonight. Have a wonderfully spooky Halloween evening.” He tipped his hat to them and continued towards the Mori Art Museum.

Tilting his head down so the camera would record the white attire, he murmured, “As you can see, I’m not disguised any longer. I’m a little early, but it doesn’t much matter at the moment.” In full Kid regalia, Kaito walked the last few blocks to the heist location. A few people stopped him to talk about how he’d put together the costume, and he directed them to a shop that sold fabulous top hats in a variety of colors.

As he approached the building, he made a show of pulling an invitation out of his backpack and handing it to the two police officers manning the main entrance. There was a moment where the pair glared at him for his choice of costume, but overall they seemed resigned. “That makes eight tonight,” the first muttered to his partner.

The second one replied, “I’d hate to be up in the gallery right now. Nakamori-keibu must be furious at all the Kaitou Kids walking around.” Kaito bit back a smile. It was just as he had expected. Given Sonoko’s influence with the fan base and that her guests knew there was going to be a heist the night of the party, of course a host of Kid cosplayers would show up.

“Is it safe?” Kaito asked with affected nervousness as the officer handed him back the invitation. “I don’t want to be arrested for attending Suzuki-san’s costume party.”

“Oh, he tried to arrest the first two, but after it became clear that there were going to be a handful of imitations sauntering around, he gave up and decided to bide his time until the heist officially begins.”

“That makes sense,” Kaito answered mildly. “Besides, Kid’s probably going to come in by window or something with his hang glider, since it’s near the top of the building. I couldn’t imagine him just walking through the front door.” Kaito couldn’t decide whether he thought Hakuba was going to have a conniption when he watched this video or remain perfectly blank-faced the entire time. Either way, Kaito wanted to sit there and watch his reaction, which would undoubtedly be fascinating.

“Right. Go on up, then.” Kaito nodded and waved to the other folks walking around the first floor until he reached the elevator. One of the officers passing by with a building security team waved back before remembering why he was there. Kaito grinned.

This was going to be the easiest damn heist he’d ever pulled.

He got into the elevator with a foreign-looking group in their twenties who had known Sonoko’s family forever. One woman was dressed in a red and black jester’s costume and her husband wore purple and had used temporary dye to make his hair green. The other three claimed to be space cowboys after he asked, but he hadn’t heard of the single-season American TV show that their characters had come from. When the elevator opened, Kaito bid farewell to Harley Quinn and the Joker as well as Mal, Zoe, and Wash.

The gallery space was glitzed out in the over-the-top manner that he expected of Sonoko. She’d gotten gauzy spider webs and candelabras placed around the room in the short time between the museum’s official closing and the time the party started, and there were sparkles everywhere that the museum hadn’t marked as off-limits. Jack-o-lanterns sat on every surface, candles flickering inside. Everything was draped in purple, black, and green, and it was _perfect_ for Halloween. In the adjoining room, a space that the museum currently used for meetings and presentations because of the small stage available, there was a band playing music with a good tempo for dancing. Along one wall there were tables with drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and there were circular tables and chairs scattered throughout the room. The room smelled like pumpkin spice and apple cider.

Kaito took a few minutes to chat up one of the Kaitou Kid cosplayers and got himself invited to his own fan club. Kaito tried not to burst out laughing after the fake Kid had moved on, but a few breathy chuckles slipped out. This was so much fun. He might record another heist sometime, if only to see Hakuba’s reactions to it. Finally, he found the hostess, who was sipping some purple drink and chattering loudly with another girl Kaito didn’t recognize. Sonoko had on the wings that Kaito had made for her, a headpiece made of silver tinsel, and a white dress that showed off just enough of her legs to walk the border between cute and sexy.

“Suzuki-san,” Kaito began during a break in the conversation. “Good evening. I’m the ‘plus one’ for one of your guests, but my date seems to have wandered off. Would you care to join me for a dance?”

Sonoko’s smile almost split her face. “Of course! I’d love to!” She hurriedly set down the drink and excused herself.

Kaito took her hand and led her towards the open area near the band that had been designated as the dance floor. “My name is Akiyama Asahi, by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Suzuki-san.” He could practically hear Hakuba rolling his eyes at the name choice. One set of kanji used for Asahi meant “morning sun” and Kid was here to steal the Sun-drop Topaz. Heh. “Is swing dance alright?”

“Yeah, swing is fine, and it’s nice to meet you too, Akiyama-san. Neat earring, by the way.” She nodded at the half-sphere that covered up the inner workings of the camera.

Kaito laughed as he slipped his free hand around her waist. “I worked so hard to put together an authentic-looking Kaitou Kid cosplay, with the monocle, top hat, cape, and everything, and you like the earring? You’re something else, Suzuki-san.” To be fair, Sonoko saw the full costume on a semi-regular basis, so it was nothing special, but tonight they weren’t supposed to know each other.

Sonoko giggled as he spun her around. “Sorry about that. Would you be appeased if I said you look dashing this evening?”

“Only if you meant it, lovely. And you are looking quite dapper as well. You play the part of an angel nicely.”

“Angel?” Sonoko questioned slyly. “What makes you think I’m not a female Kaitou Kid? If I put on your hat and monocle, I’d be all set.”

“Those wings don’t look much like a hang glider.”

“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t go leaping out of tall buildings, then,” she smiled, echoing their last conversation.

Kaito winked. “Mm, that _would_ be inadvisable. Do you think Kid will really come for the gem this evening, Suzuki-san?”

“I have no doubt about it. Kid-sama always comes once he’s given a notice. He’ll be here.”

“You’re probably right. How could a phantom resist an appearance on the most haunted night of the year?”

After a few more dances with Sonoko, Kaito let her return to her hosting duties and invited other guests to the dance floor. He waltzed with two youkai and Frankenstein’s monster, and the skinny pumpkin girl abandoned formal dance patterns in order to be spun in circles until the end of the song. The guest in the Britannian Knightmare costume was too unbalanced to do any serious dancing, but Kaito did the robot with her. Or him. It was hard to tell with the helmet and bulky armor. He overheard a conversation about time travel and eventually dragged the Tenth Doctor onto the dance floor as well.

Kaito checked his watch at two minutes to midnight and began making his way over towards the jewel display. He moved subtly, of course, because Nakamori-keibu was wound tighter than Hakuba’s pocket watch at the moment. At forty seconds until 12:00 he clicked a button in his pocket and the power cut out. Kaito tossed smoke bombs in the direction of the display stand that held the Sun-drop Topaz.

Once he was practically invisible in the smoke and dark, the magician jogged right through the circle of distracted task force officers. With another click, the power was restored. “ _Ladies and Gentleman_ ,” Kaito shouted in English. All attention turned to him as the air cleared. He felt Kid’s razor smile overtake his poker face and his nerves settled. There was so much excited energy pumping through him right now that another round of rooftop gymnastics would be called for later.

Gods, if this was how Hakuba made him feel all the time with challenges, Kaito would never stop.

Switching back to Japanese, he began: “I wish a Happy Halloween to all Division Two officers and my fellow guests. Tonight I have something special in store for all of you, something… _spooky_.”

“Arrest him,” Nakamori bellowed, and the task force officers charged from all directions.

Unworried, Kaito continued, “Halloween is not for the faint of heart. The dead return to life, monsters cross into our world, and even the most innocent of things can give us the fright of our lives.” The jack-o-lanterns around the room, which had been left at the museum anonymously for Suzuki Sonoko’s party and had no cuts around the top to indicate how the insides had been removed, seemed to come to life. The carved pumpkins appeared to sprout legs and crawl around, skittering like mice. They bumped into each other and into people and objects in their path, following no discernable order.

There were screams of fear and surprise as some guests climbed on the chairs and some of the officers tried to stomp on the pumpkins. Kaito went to work on the jewel’s display case. He’d loosened the seal between the glass covering and the base earlier this week, and with one strong tug it lifted off like it was nothing more than a cup flipped over on a table. He stowed the topaz in a deep pocket and turned back to the show, mission accomplished. The coffin propped up in one corner opened when he manipulated the strings attached to it, plastic skulls rained in the presentation room, and eerie music played over the museum’s speakers.

Nakamori and his men had realized that the crawling pumpkins weren’t a genuine harm to anyone and recovered some semblance of order. They organized themselves again to charge, and Kaito produced more smoke. In cover of the fog, Kaito drew out an armful of white capes and nimbly attached them to the backs of the task force members. Officers would see a white cape and grab at it, believing it to be Kid, which would distract them from the real Kid and hinder their teammates in the process.

With his mischief managed, the magician sprinted for the low vent in one corner of the room. Ducking down, Kaito popped the cover out of its frame and wriggled inside. After replacing it, he squirmed through to the next floor down where he knew there were a set of windows that opened. From there he snapped open the hang glider and launched himself out into the wide, empty space.

He’d gotten some much-needed excitement and dancing in, obtained the jewel, and escaped without notice. Oh, and Snake’s men hadn’t showed up. It was the perfect night to be a trickster.

SAGURU

“Just sit still for a few more seconds,” Saguru huffed as he applied the final touches of Renee’s makeup on her elf ears. She made a beautiful Tauriel.

Saguru himself was already in complete costume. They both looked like they’d come right off the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit sets. He had to admit that Renee had done a wonderful job picking out the fabrics for their costumes and distressing them so that they looked authentic. His distant cousin knew what she wanted and how to go about getting it. It was just the tiny details and final touches she had trouble with, something that Saguru was rather particular about and the main reason he was consulted when she designed and fabricated her cosplays.

“Done.”

“ _Finally_ ,” Renee huffed as she got up from the makeup chair and checked herself in the mirror. “Oh my gosh! I look just like her!”

“If only a little shorter in stature and rounder in the face,” Saguru muttered under his breath.

“And you look absolutely fantastic, Jamie,” she smiled. “Those swords are a nice touch. They’re real aren’t they?”

“Had them custom made a few years back,” Saguru grinned. “And yes, they are real, but blunted for safety reasons. I usually hang them on the wall in my room.”

“Right between your map of Middle Earth and your collection of vintage Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie posters no doubt, you big nerd,” Renee snickered. “Oh, I’m sorry. I think the correct term is otaku.”

Saguru leveled an unamused look at her before she wrapped her arm around his and dragged him off to the front hall. They needed to get to the venue tonight and oversee the application of the costumes on the models that would be wearing them for the charity event.

While Saguru was helping to apply finishing touches on some of the makeups his mother appeared. She was dressed in her normal navy business dress suit, long wavy blond hair tied up in an elegant bun, and sapphire eyes shining much like Saguru’s did when a case had come together or he was on the verge of catching Kid. They shared the same high cheekbone structure and slim figure. When standing besides each other there was no doubt that they were mother and son, unlike when Saguru stood beside his father and there was hardly any family resemblance to be found at all.

“Oh, Jamie! Everything looks fantastic!” his mother cooed, squealing happily over some of the costumes.

“Thank you,” Saguru smiled. “Everyone’s worked so hard to pull this together. I’m sure your party will be a huge success.”

“With all you’ve managed to pull off, I have no doubts. Especially with the Hobbit skit. And oh look, you’re even in costume already.”

“Hobbit skit?” Saguru frowned.

“Oh, didn’t Renee tell you? You two are going to perform with some actors that river scene from the Desolation of Smaug! Oh it’ll be fantastic!”

“No, she didn’t,” Saguru glared at Renee who at least had the decency to look sheepish.

“Sorry, but not sorry,” she giggled nervously. “Oh, come on, Jamie! It’ll be fun!”

“When the hell did you two cook this up?” he demanded crossing his arms.

“…After you agreed to help with the event?” She smiled nervously.

“That was little over a week ago!”

“Like you don’t remember every fight routine in those movies,” Renee protested. “And I know that your bow and those arrows are more that just costume props. You’re a stickler for authenticity in every aspect of your life, so I know you can shoot with them. Now come on, we’ve got to have a few practice run-throughs.” She grabbed his arm again and dragged him off towards the hall where the charity event was taking place.

“Mum!”

“Oh go along darling, I’m sure it’ll be spectacular. The actors are already in their costumes and make up.”

“You can’t be serious!”

“Like a heart attack,” his mother replied smugly. “Sir Ian McClellan will be introducing the fight routine himself. He’ll be dressing as Gandalf of course and I’m sure he’ll take a few pictures with you and sign an autograph or two. He’s really a delightful man.” Saguru had nothing to say to that. Ian McClellan was one of his favorite actors and meeting him would be worth putting up with these shenanigans. His mother better not be lying.

While Saguru spent the remainder of the time before the party working out choreography, he couldn’t help but wonder how Kid’s heist was going. He had gotten his invitation from Suzuki Sonoko weeks ago for her Halloween party, but sadly had to turn down her invitation after he’d gotten the call from his mother. Sonoko had made him promise to attend the next one. After Kid’s notice was announced and it was deduced that he’d be crashing her party, she promised to fill him in on the Halloween heist. He was sure that Kid had had a ball with his heist and that Sonoko would be enjoying every moment of it. It should have occurred by now in Japan.

Finally at seven o’clock guests started to arrive and it wasn’t long before the great hall was filled with guests both distinguished and common. Many children from local orphanages and schools filled the room as well, enjoying the games and areas set up for them and their chaperones. Renee was stuck to his side like glue, soaking in the atmosphere and showing off her Tauriel cosplay whenever possible. Saguru played along for the most part, enjoying children’s reactions. At one point there was even a little boy who was also dressed as Legolas. He had come up to him with suspicious narrowed eyes and spoke to him.

“Are you really Legolas?” the boy demanded.

Before Saguru could respond, however, Renee had grabbed and tugged on his arm. “It’s time, Legolas,” she said, referring to their choreographed fight.

“ _Boe i 'wên. Nover,_ ” he said to the boy with a small bow. _I must go. Farewell._ Little Legolas brightened upon hearing the elvish words and smiled, waving.

“You are such a nerd,” Renee huffed. “I can’t believe you can speak Elvish.”

“Only a little,” Saguru shrugged.

“Enough to hold a conversation.”

“Oh, so ten or twelve phrases are enough to hold a conversation by your standards?”

“Shut up and get into position, Elf Prince.”

Saguru was excited to find out that his mother hadn’t been lying when she said that Ian McClellan would be introducing their stunt show performance. The performance itself went better than he’d thought. The choreography had him and Renee bouncing from raised platform to platform over guests’ and actors’ heads shooting arrows and flashing their swords as they fought “orcs” while wheeled barrels filled with “dwarves” rolled through roped off sections from the crowd that made up the river and made their way through the room. Children squealed and shouted in excitement as they stood atop tables and sat on the shoulders of adults to have a better look.

Saguru didn’t want to admit it, but he was having a lot of fun. He could understand now why Kid turned many of his heists into shows for his fans. The cheers of the crowd gave him a high he’d never experienced before and just seeing the awed looks of the children made him want to break character and smile.

When the show came to an end the whole room was filled with cheers. It was time for the children to return home. Saguru and Renee were asked to sign many autographs before the adult portion of the evening started. He saw the Legolas kid again and signed his bow.

“ _No gelin a velthin idh raideg_ ,” he told him.

He was surprised when the kid lunged forward and hugged him before hurrying off with his parents.

“Aww. That was so sweet. What did you say to him?”

“May your ways be green and golden.”

“Nerd.”

Saguru snorted. “This from the one who twisted my arm into doing this. You made those ridiculous costume suggestions on purpose, didn’t you? Just so that I’d agree once you suggested something more reasonable.”

“So what if I did? You know you enjoyed it. That smile you’ve been wearing for the last half hour says so. You need to loosen up more. You’d be an even bigger hit with the ladies if you smiled like that more often.”

Saguru rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t lose the smile. He was reminded once again of a certain trickster magician who also thought that he should lighten up. Looking around at the party and the models in costume serving food and drinks, or simply acting out their characters for the amusement of the remaining guests, Saguru couldn’t help but think that maybe Renee and Kuroba had a point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MG: Aw yeah! That's chapter 6! Kaito had a blast. Did you recognize all the characters at the Halloween party? Aside from the obvious Doctor Who and Batman references, there were some Firefly cosplayers and a Knightmare from Code Geass. And Kaito went to the heist as himself, haha. My thought process for coming up with challenges for him goes something like "Gosh, what kind of heist would be really effing hard to plan and write?" and then after we decide on something Kaito goes "Actually, that's pretty easy" and makes something like the Disguise Challenge (or, the Lack of Disguise Challenge, in his case) look like a piece of cake. Fingers crossed that this keeps up. I'm glad Sonoko and Kid got to hang out again too; they're just ridiculous and I love them. Also, I really like that Saguru ended up being a LOTR dork, SR ;)
> 
> SR: Yeah, well he IS a teenager and grew up in London, so I imagined that he'd be a big Tolkien fan, especially after the movies came out (what with how we've established him and his mother being big movie fans in general). He is also more than likely a closet Doctor Who fanatic as well and probably has the Fourth Doctor's scarf somewhere in his closet (which the nerd probably crocheted himself - he does NOT knit, people, there is a distinction) along with all current models - old and new - of the sonic screw driver. Coming from two rich families he can afford to buy all the fun toys and design and create the cosplays we wish we could have (like his inverness coat/cape). We talked about this earlier, MG, but everyone associates Hakuba with Sherlock Holmes just as much as they do Kudo Shinichi, but Hakuba never does the nerdy quoting and out right fan-boying that Shinichi does over Doyle and Holmes. All he does is wear the inverness coat/cape and cap (cosplay!). I think behind Hakuba's polite and proper attitude lies a fellow teenage fanboy who adores many fandoms, though he probably sticks more to the classics, like Classic Who, the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films, Lord of the Rings, and of course classic Disney films. But that's just my interpretation, and thus why Hakuba may seem so OC to you guys. I hope this explanation clears up some of the aspects of his character that have come forth in these last two chapters. Hakuba is an otaku of various interests just like me and you. ;)
> 
> MG: I'm glad we got to make Saguru a fuller character, and it's great discovering things about him along the way. In Kaito's case, I had no idea that he had his ears pierced until I was literally writing the sentence where he turned the camera on. It makes sense, though, if he spends lots of time in female disguises.
> 
> SR: It is fun figuring out your characters as you go along; canon and OC alike. Renee was a joy to write and I can only wish that Hakuba's mother got more screen time, but she just didn't want to step in and steal the spotlight from her son and sort-of-niece, the fickle lady. Don't worry though. She's bound to show herself again sooner or later. This chapter was rather interesting to write though because we didn't have our two main characters interacting, though they're certainly missing each other. ;) Thanks for reading and please leave us a comment! Any and all comments are useful, especially if you have ideas for what kind of challenges you'd like to see our detective and thief perform next!


	7. The Disguise Challenge (Part 4)

SAGURU

“Hakuba-nii-san! Akako-nee-chan!” Saguru and Akako smiled as they entered Yamaguchi Ryouichi’s room at Tokyo University Hospital and were greeted by Kyou and her father.

“Hello, Kyou-chan,” Saguru smiled, crouching down to her level before sliding his bag off his shoulder. “It’s good to see you again.”

Kyou beamed, surprising Saguru with a hug. “Akako-nee-chan told me you went to London to see your mommy. How is she? Did you have fun in London? Did you get to dress up for Halloween? What did you go as?” Saguru laughed as she launched one question after another.

“Kyou, one question at a time,” her father scolded, but he was smiling. It was good to see him conscious. He had only been awake a couple of times in the past when Saguru had come by to visit over the last month.

“It’s alright, Yamaguchi-san. My mother is quite well, Kyou-chan, thank you, and I dressed up as Legolas, an elf, for Halloween.”

“Do you have pictures?!” Kyou asked.

“Do you?” Akako echoed with a sly smile and a gleam in her eye.

“Unfortunately I don’t have any on me at the moment. I’ll have to bring one next time.” Kyou pouted. “I do, however, have a gift for a certain little girl,” Saguru said, smiling at how fast Kyou perked up. He reached into the bag he’d brought and pulled out a wrapped package, handing it over to Kyou.

The little girl tore open the top of the wrapping and squealed in delight at the sight of English candies such as Turkish Delights, Jelly Babies, and an assortment of Aero chocolate bars. There were also a couple of children’s fairytale books. They were in English, of course, but the illustrations were gorgeous and Saguru had taken the time during his long flight back to Japan to carefully pen in a hiragana translation of the tales beneath the English text for Kyou to read. His flight had landed only a few hours ago in the early afternoon, where Akako had met him at the terminal gate with his housekeeper, Baaya. Apparently the girl had no qualms about skipping her afternoon classes. Saguru had passed his luggage on to Baaya before leaving to catch a train to Ueno.

“Thank you!” Kyou squealed happily, hugging him again before rushing over to show her father what Saguru had given her.

“Speaking of gifts, did you get what I requested?” Akako asked while the little girl and her father looked over the books and various candies.

“I did,” Saguru nodded. “They’re in the gift bag I put together for you.”

“You shouldn’t have,” Akako cooed.

“Oh?” Saguru mused, smiling at his friend. “Well, I suppose if you don’t want anything more than what you asked for, I’ll just have to split your goodies between Kuroba and Aoko-kun’s gift bags then.”

“Don’t you dare,” Akako said, feigning disproval. “I want to see what you brought me back from London.”

“Besides what you asked for?”

“Yes, you fool,” Akako huffed childishly, batting at his arm.

“I’ll give it to you tomorrow,” Saguru promised. “Or if you want it that badly, you’re more than welcome to come over to get it. I have it in my suitcase.”

“That would probably be best,” Akako frowned, lowering her voice to a low murmur. They both watched as the elder Yamaguchi slouched in his bed, tired and sleepy again. “Yamaguchi-san is weakening. I would like to have what you purchased for me as soon as possible. I also don’t want either of us to have to carry them around the school.”

“Kuroba?”

“Kuroba.”

“Damn nuisance can’t keep his sticky fingers out of other people’s bags.”

“Oh, it’s not my bag I’m worried about him looking through. It’s yours.” Akako smirked. “I’d rather not have him rifling through things he needn’t concern himself with.”

“That and it’d raise so many bothersome questions neither of us would want to answer,” Saguru sighed.

“Again, it’s not me that would be bothered.” Saguru shot her a baleful glare but she only smiled cheekily and wandered over to the two Yamaguchis, offering to take Kyou out to Ueno Park. It was only a 14 minute (and 35.12 second) walk from the hospital and would allow Yamaguchi-san to get some more rest while giving his daughter an opportunity to be outside and play. Apparently, Akako had visited a few times on her own since they’d both come by with Kuroba that first time and had already taken Kyou out on a few similar trips.

Saguru watched in amusement as his usually collected and sophisticated friend chatted gaily with the six year old and the two hopped from one stripe to the next on the crosswalk. They even got him to join in and Saguru found himself having a grand time with the two girls. They decided to explore the zoo section of Ueno Park that afternoon, seeing all of the animals and as many of the attractions as they could. Saguru found himself blushing, however, when an elderly lady commented on what a nice young family the three of them were. Akako didn’t help things when she latched onto his arm and said, “Come on, dear, we want to go see the monkeys.” Kyou even got in on it and tugged on his other arm saying, “Let’s go, Daddy! Let’s go!” Once they were far enough from the elderly woman, Akako and Kyou couldn’t stop laughing. Saguru eventually found himself chuckling as well – not at the situation, but at the sight of the two girls doubled over laughing to the point of tears.

When Saguru and Akako arrived back in Ekoda later, Saguru invited his friend over. While Baaya prepared dinner, the two of them retired to the lounge. He gave her the promised package and after a few minutes of her marveling over the English candies and a necklace he’d selected for her, Akako focused on the second part of her parcel. It was a paper bag filled with dried roots, little bags of seeds, and crushed herbs from an old apothecary in London.

It had taken a long hour going up and down the same street before finally locating the little hole-in-the-wall shop. The shopkeeper had been an elderly spinster woman in long, flowing robes that had dwarfed her figure. When he’d walked into her store she’d looked up in surprise, as if she’d never seen a customer before. She had been very eager to help him and offered him deals on all sorts of powders and crushed minerals and cleansing stones.

When Saguru told Akako about his experience at the store, she laughed and explained, “You’re probably the first normal to have ever entered her shop. Most places like that are warded and invisible to people without a magical lineage. You wore the omamori that Kyou-chan gave you, I trust?”

“Yes…”

“The woman could tell you didn’t have magic, but felt the charm and that’s what excited her. I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to find the shop without a guide, but wearing the charm helped. Spending time with Kyou-chan and I probably facilitated it as well. My own magic is probably rubbing off on you and allowing you to see things that you couldn’t ordinarily see. You may have started noticing strange things during your trip home after visiting the apothecary.”

Saguru was a little unnerved by that bit of news. “So what are those herbs for, anyway? And why did they have to be from London?” Saguru asked, changing the subject.

Akako allowed the dismissal of the uncomfortable subject and took up the new topic without further comment. “They didn’t have to be from London, per se,” she admitted, “but I know for a fact that most of these items come imported from Ireland, one of the few countries still imbued with its original, natural magic. It hosts the most magical gatherings in the world because its lands have remained sacred, mostly because they’ve become tourist traps. That’s beside the point, though. It’s so much cheaper to get these things from London than to have them imported all the way to Japan. My usual herbologist has raised her prices as of late so I’ve been boycotting her shop and making do elsewhere, but these particular ingredients need to be relatively fresh. Unfortunately, most of the herbs imported from Europe take weeks or months to arrive. It was much easier and quicker to have you pick them up while you were home in London. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t, but, again, what are they for?” Saguru asked.

“A spell to counteract the traces of evil the kappa left on Yamaguchi-san,” Akako frowned. “It’s meant to purify and cleanse his aura and should help him finally recover from his attack. Not many survive a kappa attack, but the few who do usually die soon after. Yamaguchi-san is barely hanging on as it is. Modern science has created medicine that healed the body, so Yamaguchi-san may appear well, but his soul is tainted and rotting.”

Saguru nodded. His logical side didn’t quite understand what she was telling him about kappas and evil auras, but he could at least grasp the concept that Mr. Yamaguchi was spiritually sick, so he required a spiritual cure to get better. “Will it work?” Saguru asked.

“For Kyou-chan’s sake, I hope so,” Akako replied softly.

 

KAITO

Kaito had finished his homework hours ago and was still looking for something to do. He hadn’t been particularly inspired to write the next heist note, even though he wanted to hold another one soon to hand over his proof to the detective. Why had Hakuba gone to England, anyway? It was so last minute. He just _had_ to miss the Halloween heist, which Kaito had taken special care in planning.

Ah. That French cousin of his had arrived in London the same day. Perhaps her social media could enlighten Kaito as to what Hakuba and company had been up to halfway around the world. He opened the browser on his computer in the Kid room and found her Facebook again. Benoit Renee posted a multitude of photographs – both clear, professional shots and pictures clearly taken with a phone camera – under two albums called Halloween Charity Ball!! Part I and Part II. In Part I, Kaito clicked through the sharp, well-composed photos of strangers in costumes that looked like fairy tale characters gone spooky. Appropriate for Halloween. The second album featured Renee in costume as an elf girl, most of the time standing arm in arm with another elf who was Legolas _and most definitely Hakuba Saguru._ “Wow,” he croaked, staring at the first photo with both of them. It had taken Kaito a moment to recognize his classmate through the elf costume and huge smile that wasn’t generally seen on the detective. Shit, Hakuba even had twin swords, and they looked real. _Awesome_.

Kaito kept clicking through the album and Renee’s descriptions to the right of the photos helped him put together an idea of what happened: “Jamie’s finishing up my costume, aww yeah.” “My cousin and I, dressed as Legolas and Tauriel for Aunt Lizzy’s charity ball.” “Elf Prince is being a dork in this pic because the ‘real’ Gandalf is here, lol.” “Group shot of the actors after the Hobbit skit.” “If Jamie had a Facebook, he’d kill me for putting this one up.” That last one was a shot of Hakuba making a face at someone slightly to the left of the camera, probably Renee. He looked absolutely ridiculous, given that elves were generally composed and not expressive, but Kaito couldn’t help feeling that Hakuba looked a little bit adorable when he wasn’t being a stuffy detective.

Well, maybe “adorable” was too strong a word. Kaito was probably just feeling charitable because he wanted the blonde to come to the next heist. Mmm, yes, that was it. Really, it wouldn’t do for Hakuba to skip again just because he didn’t have proof of completing the disguise challenge. Kid wouldn’t let him off that easily if the detective suddenly decided to stop issuing notices for their clandestine meetings. Hmm. He might have to hold a Lord of the Rings themed heist so Hakuba would remember that Kid was keeping an eye on him. Wouldn’t want Hakuba to think he could just leave and chase another thief on the other side of the world or something, as if Kid wouldn’t _know_ what he was up to.

Ah! Kaito sat bolt upright as he remembered one item from his to-steal list and thought that a LOTR heist (or at least a few obvious references dropped) sounded like a perfect idea for Kid’s next show. He consulted his master sketchbook for more information about this particular jewel and opened up another tab on the browser to begin his research.

Six hours later, with preliminary research and an initial visit to the heist site under his belt, Kaito had a heist note:

 

_The history of style in a tasteful fashion_

_An assortment of costumes collected with passion._

_This kaitou twice wishes for something small_

_Because there’s only one ring to rule them all._

 

SAGURU

Saguru was having a very busy week. Kid had issued a new heist note within the last few days and that had the Task Force in another tizzy. Between attending school and various task force meetings Saguru welcomed a break, even one that came in the form of one Suzuki Sonoko.

The two of them had known each other since childhood due to their families’ similar social circles, but after his parents had divorced and he moved to London with his mother, they didn’t see much of each other unless he was visiting Japan or she was visiting Europe to attend some other high society event. It hadn’t been until he moved back to Japan to live with his father that they’d begun to see each other more often and actually become friends. There had been issues at the beginning of their friendship when Saguru had joined the Kid Task Force. Being a major fan, Sonoko had taken offense and refused to speak to him for weeks. When Kid targeted her family’s Black Star pearl, she had asked Detective Mouri for help instead.

Honestly, the whole thing had been ridiculous and their confrontations had devolved into childish name-calling and petty comebacks that were completely outrageous. When the two had finally come to their senses after a month’s worth of idiocy, they put aside their differences regarding Kid, apologized, and became a pair of unlikely friends. Sonoko was rather eccentric, but not on the same level as Lyle, Renee, and Saguru’s mother. He could tell when she was playing up her oddness and when she was genuinely excited. Sonoko was also a perfect source for information on Kid activity whenever he was out of the country and he, in turn, would give her information on the latest Kid heists he was involved in.

“I was wondering when you were going to pay me a visit,” Sonoko huffed as she led him into the lounge where they usually visited when he came over to call on her.

“Apologies, Sonoko-chan. It’s been a rather hectic week for me,” Saguru replied as he took a seat across from her in a plush chair. “I have, however, brought a gift for you.”

Sonoko was easily appeased as she took the box he presented her and squealed in delight over the dress inside, as well as the selection of her favorite European chocolates. “You are forgiven,” she declared imperiously as she set the box aside. “Is that dress from your mother’s winter line?”

“Not even available in stores for the public yet,” Saguru assured her. “My mother sends her regards and an invite to Beau Vous’ winter fashion show in Shibuya at the end of the month. The invitation is inside the box as well, and allows you to have a plus one in case Kyougoku-san is present and wishes to accompany you.”

“Thank you!” Sonoko’s smile covered her whole face before her expression became more somber. “Unfortunately Makoto-san will be attending a tournament around that time in Kyoto. Maybe I’ll bring Ran-chan. I think she’d like that.”

“Ah, and how is Mouri-kun?” Saguru asked, listening politely as Sonoko went on a rant about how her friend was still waiting for Beika’s local high school detective, Kudo Shinichi, to come back from a case he’d been involved in for quite some time. When she finally calmed down again they launched into their favorite topic of conversation – Kid – which only served to rile her back up again.

“It’s too bad you had to miss my party,” Sonoko lamented with an exaggerated air. “It was spectacular. Even without Kid-sama’s presence it would have been a smash. But – oh! – you should have _seen_ what he did to the pumpkins. They were crawling all over the place. And skulls were flying out of the coffin at guests and the Task Force was a complete joke. Kid had them running in circles, chasing each other.”

“And how did he accomplish that?” Saguru asked, amused. While Sonoko told him about the capes Kid had attached to the Task Force’s backs, he watched her. She tended to not only gesture with her hands, but moved her whole body as well. It was a rather childish and endearing quality she had that few in their social circles could appreciate. Most found such enthusiasm either obnoxious or unbecoming for a woman of Sonoko’s position as heir to the Suzuki Company. She had toned down such expressiveness significantly in public since Saguru had become her friend, but during these private moments she did nothing to curb her behavior.

It was nice to be in the company of someone who felt comfortable enough to let go of such inhibitions. In return it allowed him to relax as well. It was nearly a requirement sometimes. Sonoko could get really mad if he acted too properly, “like a stuffy brown-nosing jerk”. Being gentlemanly was fine, but too much formality was a no-no in these private meetings. Sonoko’s argument was that they acted on ceremony in too many public events on behalf of their parents and that as teenagers they should be allowed to relax in informal surroundings. Saguru hadn’t wanted to argue with her over something stupid again and had learned to relax more in her presence. Having someone scowl and tell you to “get that stick out of your ass and relax” a million times would do that.

“So, did you see Kid before the heist started?”

Sonoko laughed. “I’m friends with a ton of Kid fans, Saguru-kun. There were a bunch of people dressed up in white suits. But, to answer your question, yes, I did see him.”

Saguru’s eyebrows shot up. “And that wasn’t the first thing you mentioned when you answered the door, why?”

“I didn’t want to be rude. I know how you feel about the Kid fandom.”

Well. He couldn’t really argue with that logic. “Was there anything unusual about him, that you noticed?”

She shrugged. “I thought he was the plus one for one of my guests. I just noticed that he was a Kid cosplayer. Nothing strange about him at all. Now, enough about my party,” Sonoko said as she reseated herself, her gaze eager. “Details. What is my beloved Kid-sama up to now? A heist notice was issued and printed in the newspaper and I _know_ you’ve figured it out by now. Spill!”

Saguru chuckled and relaxed in his seat. “I suppose I don’t mind telling you. The information will be released to the public anyway in tomorrow’s morning paper. _The history of style in a tasteful fashion / An assortment of costumes collected with passion. / This kaitou twice wishes for something small / Because there’s only one ring to rule them all_ ,” Saguru recited. “The first two lines refer to the heist’s location, The Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum in Shibuya, which has clothes from different time periods around the world. While the museum doesn't specifically have jewelry on display, they sometimes have special exhibits on other cultural artifacts, and some jewels will be on display.” A fitting location for a heist, especially considering the theme of their challenges this round. “The second half of the heist notice was difficult for the task force to decipher.”

“But not for you, I bet,” Sonoko said smugly.

“Even I had a hard time determining the entirety of the notice,” Saguru admitted. “The heist target was easy enough to determine.”

“One ring to rule them all,” Sonoko quoted with a smirk. “Even _I_ know it’s a Lord of the Rings reference. A jab, perhaps, at your Halloween costume?”

“And how would you know what I dressed as for Halloween?” Saguru huffed.

“I follow your fan page on Facebook, of course,” Sonoko grinned. “You won’t get one of your own, so I follow the fan page. There was a kick-ass video of the Hobbit skit, you know. Very nice. You looked so heroic banishing the beasts with your swords and shooting arrows all over the place. Now why can’t you do that at one of my parties or at a Kid heist? You might actually stand a chance catching him if you whip out those kinds of moves.”

“Because I’d be making a spectacle out of myself,” Saguru frowned. “And those moves were practiced and choreographed. I can’t do that sort of thing on the fly.”

“Could too,” Sonoko scoffed. “You’re great at improv. You just don’t want the attention it would give you.”

“I have enough attention as it is,” Saguru sighed. “Do you want to hear the rest of the heist information or not?”

“Spill,” she demanded again, eyes sharp and eager.

“The ring reference was a clue to Kid’s intended target, the Ichikawa's Sapphire, which is a rare pink sapphire that's set into a ring. It’s going to be on a special display between tomorrow and the 12th.” While the “ichi” kanji used in Ichikawa wasn’t the same as the kanji used to represent “one”, it was obviously a pun.

“And the heist date and time?” Sonoko inquired.

“That was the hard part to figure out,” Saguru admitted. “The clue was hidden in the third line – _This kaitou twice wishes for something small._ It’s not a common thing done here in Japan, but in some western cultures the time 11:11 is regarded as special for making a wish. So that gave us a time for the heist. The best we can figure, however, with regards to a date, is the part where the kaitou _twice_ wishes, which suggests that 11:11 has a double meaning as both time and the date. So to sum up, Kid is going to target the Ichikawa’s Sapphire in the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum at 11:11 on November 11 th.”

Sonoko made a note of the time and date in her phone, looking extremely pleased.

 

KAITO

The planning for this heist had been kinda half-assed because he wanted to hold it soon, and as a result, it wasn’t going to be his best magic. He’d been a little careless with hiding his tricks around the room where the Ichikawa’s Sapphire was being held, and some of them had already been discovered. It wasn’t even 11:11 yet. Also, he felt like his veins were flowing with molasses tonight. He just couldn’t get excited about this.

Blah. Blergh. Heist. Hmm. Don’t wanna.

 _You can’t find the meeting place unless you have the riddle,_ he reminded himself. That meant he had to put on a grand show and steal the “one ring” first. Eh… he didn’t need to be flashy tonight. He’d been wild enough on Halloween to make up for a sub-par magic show if he wanted to get this heist over with. Normally he wouldn’t condone such a mood, but he was feeling truly drained. He was always in the middle of planning heists and researching potential targets and gathering intel on the criminal network that was after Pandora. Heists were great fun and wonderful magic practice, but tonight he was thinking about his father. Well, he had started by thinking of the meetings with Hakuba, and then he’d remembered the question that the blonde had asked for his prize last time: _How many people have worn the Kid costume?_

The answer should have been just one, maybe two if Mom helped out sometimes. Dad should have still been here to find Pandora before the dark organization did. This quest had lost Kaito a father and widowed his mother. Jii had lost a good friend. The world had lost a good magician.

Again, heists were great fun, but the reason for the heists, the idea that there were villains out there willing to kill for eternal life, sometimes made it very hard to put on the suit. Most nights, Kaito was fine. The snipers didn’t come to every heist, and Kaito always lost himself in the ecstasy of adrenaline and magic and more recently, the challenges. Tonight, though, it was hard. He’d been very, very tempted to cancel tonight. However, he was looking forward to the part of the evening where he got to watch Hakuba Saguru’s reactions to the heist that the detective had so rudely missed.

Yeah… that _would_ make the night better, wouldn’t it? Bothering the detective was always a trip.

Kaito gave himself a little slap to wake up a bit, then checked his watch. 11:05pm. Six more minutes until show time. He took a drink from the water fountain outside the restrooms and, when no one was looking, slipped into the ladies room to change into his next disguise. Tonight he was Kagome Rina, head of the Collections department for the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum. The real woman was brisk, organized, and terrifying enough that she’d apparently cowed Nakamori into silence the first time they met after the heist notice had been issued. The task force had been whispering about it when they set up and Kaito’s own research on the woman made him inclined to believe them.

He left the bathroom, went back into the hallway, and circled around to the entrance of the room where the Ichikawa’s Sapphire was being displayed. Kaito demanded to see Nakamori-keibu immediately and insisted that the officers stay in their positions, thank you, I don’t need to be walked around my own workplace like a child.

Kaito took a moment to shiver as he entered one of the main display rooms, the one with the sapphire. Because the museum displayed clothes, there were an awful lot of mannequins on platforms behind knee-high barriers. To an untrained eye, it almost looked like the museum was full of human exhibits, like a zoo but for people. The clothes were beautiful, to be sure, but overall it was creepy as hell.

The magician made it four steps towards the display case when Hakuba frowned, moving away from his position by one of the displays, and reached out a hand to stop him. “Hold on a minute. We need to make sure you’re not –”

The lights snapped off. Kaito had known better to utilize smoke, which might damage the fragile clothes on display, and went for a blackout instead. He tied Hakuba’s hands together and fastened the detective to one of the short barriers. Kaito made a quick disguise change, stuck a Kid note to the front of the display case, and got into position. When the police got their floodlights working (only ten seconds, they were getting better), there was one more mildly eerie mannequin on the platforms, this one wearing a violet kimono with a lavender cherry blossom print. The makeup, which he’d kept on under the Kagome Rina mask, had taken a half hour to perfect, and the sheer number of pins that Kaito had put into the wig to keep the complex style intact made it incredibly heavy. As long as he didn’t move a muscle, though, no one should notice that Kid was part of the scenery.

Nakamori found the note immediately. “‘A fake looks brighter than the real thing, and I have taken the true One Ring.’ THAT THIEF!” A pink jewel shone back at him from its setting, taunting him.

“It was only dark for a few seconds,” one officer gasped.

Nakamori’s face reddened in fury. “There are only two entrances! Unit One, you take one exit, we’ll take the other! MOVE IT!” The officers scrambled into action, leaving behind a bound Hakuba and the presumably fake jewel. After everyone was gone, Kaito lowered his arms and released a breath. His classmate was still tied up and didn’t look like he was going anywhere, so Kaito felt confident jumping down from the platform and strolling over to the display case. After disabling the alarm, he picked the lock at the base and opened it.

The power of suggestion was a wonderful thing. As soon as the officers had read the note saying that Kid had just switched the real one for a fake, they would have automatically looked at the jewel and thought that yes, it was a little brighter, wasn’t it? The floodlights changed the angle of light on the sapphire, tricking their eyes.

“You’ve done that trick before,” Hakuba drawled from behind Kaito. “The first time we met, actually. You let them think that you’d already stolen the Adam’s Smile painting and you were planning to take your sweet time once they’d cleared out. It was a lame ruse then and it’s lame now, Kid.”

Kaito smiled to himself but didn’t look back at Hakuba, plucking the ring from its stand. “That’s what made the magic work. Nakamori wouldn’t suspect that I, the great Kaitou Kid, would pull the same trick twice. If I’d had more time in the blackout, I would have had the sense to blindfold you and take the jewel in silence so I could use the illusion again.” He’d borrow the camera tapes too and make himself invisible.

“I’ve no doubt you can move quietly, Kid, but you can’t muffle _all_ sound coming from you.”

Kaito laughed. “Wanna bet?”

In the reflection of the display case he saw Hakuba’s eyes flicker in the direction of the closest surveillance camera. “I don’t make bets with thieves.”

“You’re no fun. Say, in all the bustle of the evening, did you even get a chance to look at the ring?”

“Of course I studied it in preparation for the heist.”

“Is that so?” So Hakuba _had_ arranged a note for him. Then where was it? Ah! There it was, tucked away behind the information plaque for the ring “Alright then, Tantei-san, have a _delightful_ evening of futile pursuit and paperwork.” Kaito skedaddled before Hakuba could come up with a comeback and slipped on another mask. After a quick stop in the restroom of a small store to wipe off the makeup, Kaito put a different mask in place and wandered over to a cute little park. He sat down on a bench and withdrew Hakuba’s riddle.

While Kaito may have been a bit slapdash tonight, Hakuba was in top form. The magician was almost late to the meeting point again. As he settled into his seat on the hotel rooftop, Kaito commented, “I believe we ought to nail down the rules a little more clearly.”

Hakuba raised his eyebrow. “Oh really? Which rules would those be? How about the one where we _don’t_ make obvious references to our… extracurricular activities… in places with recording devices?” Kaito winced at his pointed tone, remembering the detective’s defensive response to Kid’s casual offer to make a bet with him. “Does that sound like a fair plan?”

“It won’t happen again.”

“Thank you. Now what were the rules you had in mind?”

“It occurs to me that, while I have only the time until my heist to complete the challenge, you could potentially set the meeting for several days after the heist if you weren’t finished with my challenge to you. It doesn’t seem quite fair.”

Hakuba tapped his chin thoughtfully. “However, you could plan heists for whenever you wanted.”

“Heists are my business,” Kaito replied, fake smile in full force as he tried not to snap too fiercely at the detective. “The location for my targets changes frequently. I _am_ constrained by certain factors.” All of his frustration and sorrow rushed back in a moment, filling him to the brim.

Hakuba blinked in surprise at the unexpected heat in Kaito’s voice. “I was just being facetious. How about we decide that, unless there are unavoidable outside factors, we meet directly after heists? I’ll still tell you where and when via note.” Kaito’s anger instantly dissipated as he realized he wasn’t being criticized. He wasn’t really mad at the detective, anyway. It was the underground organization that had earned his ire.

“Sounds good. And I think that outside help could be allowed as long as our assistants are not privy to the exact details.” Kaito knew that Hakuba had already implemented outside help, but it couldn’t hurt to make it official in case Kaito needed to enlist someone for a future challenge.

“Agreed. Anything else?”

“If I think of any more stipulations we can discuss them later.”

“Right.” There was a noticeable silence after that. Hakuba looked slightly uncomfortable, and Kaito felt his own smile widen out of genuine amusement.

“I suppose it’s time for us to exchange proof now, isn’t it?”

Hakuba sighed, resigned. “You already know.”

“Know what?” Kaitou Kid wasn’t officially connected to Kuroba Kaito, so he wouldn’t know that Hakuba’s proof was in a Minato evidence locker. “I know that I recorded my heist, and it was lovely. Here.” He withdrew the iPad that he’d borrowed from his mother ( _with_ permission, geez!) and tapped in the password before turning it over to the detective. “Just as a side note, I think you’ll find that I’ve wiped any prints from the screen. Press play and the video should start.”

 

SAGURU

Saguru rolled his eyes. “I did promise that I wouldn’t try to deduce your identity at these meetings. I’m not about to fingerprint everything on the off chance you touched something without your gloves.”

Kid merely shrugged and waved Saguru on. The video was already pulled up and once it started playing he set the iPad down on the table, angled so that Kid could see it as well.

“ _Ready?_ ” Kid’s grinning face asked in a mirror on the video. “ _Good evening. As you can see I am in full costume. As per the parameters of our challenge, I am allowed to disguise myself until I reach twenty meters of the Mori Art Museum. I will leave the camera on and inform you when we – excuse me, I – reach that point. Sound good?_ ” Kid smiled brightly before leaving the restroom of a 7-Eleven convenience store. Saguru watched the encounter with the cat girl and her friends, amused, shaking his head at the pants comment and raising an eyebrow at the Chat Noir comment. Interesting that Kid would make that distinction. Saguru had a feeling the Kid knew who Chat Noir was. The expression “thick as thieves” came to mind.

Saguru sighed in frustration as the officers simply waved Kid in without much trouble. He’d expected that several guests would come to Sonoko’s party as Kid – which the thief had probably been counting on – but for the officers to not have at least searched Kid was incredibly thoughtless. Anyone in Kid regalia should have been stopped and thoroughly examined. What on earth was Nakamori-keibu thinking? Honestly. Did Saguru have to point out such obvious security measures just so that they’d be carried out? Saguru had a good rant about it while the Kid on the video made his way up to the party with Harley Quinn, the Joker, and Captain Malcolm, Wash, and Zoe from Firefly (a rather entertaining show that had sadly been cancelled after only one season). The Kid sitting across from him at the table smirked, obviously enjoying his reactions.

Saguru watched the rest of the video with great amusement, a small part of him wishing he could have attended. Sonoko had spared no expense and many of the costumes looked very well done. Saguru laughed when Kid got invited to his own fan club, loving the irony. His reaction seemed to surprise Kid, but the thief smirked and chuckled along with him. Then the hostess herself appeared on screen and Saguru smiled fondly at her borderline sexy angel costume. The wings looked expertly made.

“ _Suzuki-san_. _Good evening. I’m the ‘plus one’ for one of your guests, but my date seems to have wandered off. Would you care to join me for a dance?_ ”

Sonoko beamed. “ _Of course! I’d love to!_ ”

“You couldn’t resist, could you?” Saguru asked Kid, shaking his head. If Sonoko had known whom she was dancing with, she would have spazzed.

“ _My name is Akiyama Asahi, by the way_ ,” Kid said, introducing his alias. “ _It’s a pleasure to meet you, Suzuki-san._ ” Saguru raised an eyebrow at the name choice. The name “morning sun” combined with a heist target named the Sun-drop Topaz? If Saguru had been there, he would have had Kid arrested on the spot. “ _Is swing dance alright?_ ”

“ _Yeah, swing is fine, and it’s nice to meet you too, Akiyama-san. Neat earring, by the way._ ” She nodded at the camera. Saguru leaned back in his seat with a sigh and covered his mouth in a thoughtful gesture, frowning.

Kid laughed on the video. “ _I worked so hard to put together an authentic-looking Kaitou Kid cosplay, with the monocle, top hat, cape, and everything, and you like the earring?”_

It _was_ odd, Saguru thought. Sonoko had told him, “ _I just noticed that he was a Kid cosplayer. Nothing strange about him at all_.” She’d… lied. She _had_ noticed something: the earring. Why would she lie? It was possible that she could have forgotten that detail, but this was Suzuki Sonoko. She was obsessed with Kid. She would never have forgotten a single detail about any of her encounters with him. She would have remembered the earring. Why hadn’t she told him about it? It wasn’t like such a detail was relevant to the case this long after it had happened… unless she’d known that it was Kid and was covering for him…

Then it clicked.

The party. She had been in on the heist. Or at least in arranging things so that the police couldn’t cordon off the museum and make it unavailable to the public. It was way too perfect and way too much of a coincidence that Sonoko would choose that museum to host that particular party. She was a Suzuki. She could have her pick of anywhere in the city, but she’d chosen a museum. A museum that just so happened to have a heist target.

Saguru watched the rest of the encounter with sharp eyes, taking everything in. Sonoko was flirty and yet way too comfortable in Kid’s presence. She knew him. Damn it, Sonoko _knew_ Kid! And Kid knew her if the way he flirted back was any indication. Saguru huffed at the glider-wings comment. Now that was an inside joke if he’d ever heard one. The tone of voice was clear. Just how long had those two known each other?

He relaxed again more naturally when Kid and Sonoko stopped dancing together and watched the rest of the heist with little interest, already knowing what was going to happen when the pumpkins started scurrying about. Sonoko had gone into great detail about this part of the evening and was impressed with her attention to detail. Kid seemed disappointed by his lack of a reaction, though, so Saguru made sure to at least grumble about the abysmal job Nakamori and his officers had done with regards to securing the heist target. “That had to be one of your easiest heists to date. The police presence was pitiful. They had practically no protective measures and allowed themselves to be distracted by the animatronic pumpkins! I will have to make sure such a thing doesn’t happen again in the future,” Saguru huffed.

“I suppose you will,” Kid grinned. “Now, for your challenge?” He took a sip from one of the cups that Saguru had brought up from the hotel room.

Saguru sighed, running a hand through his hair. For such an open and shut case, Saguru had been unable to get back the camera from the evidence locker even after his return from England. Apparently there was a huge backlog due to a number of high priority cases in Division One. Forensics and evidence lockers were congested and disorganized from all the chaos. “Sadly, I had my proof confiscated and have been unable to reclaim it as of yet,” he admitted.

“Ah, pity,” Kid replied, but his grin sharpened. “That will cost you.”

Saguru nodded, eyebrow ticking in irritation. However, he wasn’t going to give an excuse and plea extenuating circumstances. They’d agreed on the rules and he was going to follow them. It was only fair. He didn’t have to like it, though, and dreaded what the thief was going to suggest.

“Before we get to that, however,” Kid chirped happily, “I get my reward for completing my challenge.” Saguru waved him on. “Have you ever gotten a case that you didn't want to solve?” he asked.

Saguru paused, gathering his thoughts. That was certainly an interesting question. Saguru had solved many cases over the years and had always been proud of his record, solving them all (aside from Kid’s case of course), determined to find the perpetrator, and aside from that idiotic snafu during the Koushien where he’d gotten caught up in competition with Hattori, he was always right. But there had been one time he still wished he hadn’t been.

“There was one,” he admitted slowly, adjusting his posture in his seat. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, hands clasped together before his face. He stared at his fingers for a moment, eyes tracing the faint scar that he could barely see in the dim light that snagged from the first knuckle on his left pointer finger down to his wrist. Kid waited silently, eyes staring intently at him.

“I was in seventh grade,” Saguru started. “It had been roughly ten months since I’d started doing my own private detective work and had solved a few high profile cases that got me in the newspapers again. I’d even consulted with the police a couple of times by then. I was quickly rising in popularity at school and felt as if I were on top of the world. But during January after winter break… accidents started happening around me. They were just small things at first; a tack on my chair, my locker ransacked, my things dumped out of my bag when I returned from gym class. But things quickly escalated. Each incident was more dangerous than the last; my hands got cut on shards of glass that had been slipped into the covers of my books, I nearly received a concussion from a faulty shower head, and gym equipment would collapse when I went to use it. I was nearly crushed by a stone statue that had been pushed off the school’s roof. My mother wanted to pull me from the school, but the police and campus security assured her than they were doing everything they could to find the culprit. And they did. Or, rather, I did.”

Saguru swallowed, looking out over the cityscape. “His name was Jackson Peters, and he… had been my best friend. We’d been in the same class since the third grade and did everything together. He was a child prodigy, particularly in maths. He was practically a human calculator. We traded off back and forth for top of our class and grade, but he always beat me in maths and I always beat him in science. We pushed each other and would do experiments. We believed that there wasn’t anything we couldn’t do together.”

“So what happened?” Kid asked eventually when Saguru stopped and didn’t speak for a while, too lost in memory.

“I don’t know,” Saguru replied softly, hands clenching. As he continued to speak his voice became louder and the words came faster, rushing out of him. “After I realized that it was Jackson, I confronted him. I couldn’t understand why he of all people wanted me hurt. We were best friends and told each other everything. It didn’t make any sense. It still doesn’t. The evidence told me that he did it, but it had to be wrong. It couldn’t have been him. He wouldn’t do that, I told myself. Someone had to be framing him and I needed him to tell me that I was wrong for once. That he wouldn’t do that. That someone else was trying to injure or kill me…” Saguru swallowed, unable to look at Kid. He really didn’t want to relive this, especially in front of Kid, but the words wouldn’t stop.

“But he was the one responsible. He confessed. Even told me how he rigged some of the faulty equipment. I asked him why and… he pulled out a knife. We fought and we must have made a ruckus because the police and campus security showed up. I begged Jack to stop. Told him he was only making things worse for himself. He told me I was right.”

“ _You’re right,_ _like always, James_.”

“He shoved me back and off of him. Then he turned the knife on himself.”

“ _NO!_ _Jack!”_

_“Wasn’t…working…anyway.”_

“The police searched his belongings,” Saguru said softly, wiping away a tear that had slipped past his guard. “No one knows why he did any of it. He left no clues, no indication why he tried to kill me. Why he would want to. That’s why I’m always asking. I need to understand why people hurt others. I don’t ask it just for kicks, to dot I’s, cross T’s, and put a cherry on top. I ask because I need to know why people do what they do.”

Saguru finally looked up and faced Kid, asking for his motive without really asking. Kid stayed silent, but Saguru hadn’t expected him to answer. “Alright,” the detective said with a cough, fighting to regain his composure. “That aside, what should we do for our next challenge?”

Kid stared at him quietly a second longer before moving on to the next topic, allowing the subject to move aside and resume their meeting as normal.

 

KAITO

That was definitely not where Kaito had thought that question was going to go. He’d expected an embarrassing story about a silly case or one where the culprit was a pretty girl that Hakuba hadn’t wanted to see convicted. Not…this. There was so much raw emotion coming from the usually emotionless detective, and it suddenly occurred to Kaito to question how Hakuba had gotten so closed off. This Jackson Peters had done more than threaten Hakuba’s life; he’d ripped something intangible from the blonde, and Kaito wondered if the detective had ever gotten it back.

Hakuba didn’t know why Jackson had done it, but Kaito could come up with a couple ideas. The petty pranks at the beginning may very well have been the result of envy. Hakuba had been gaining recognition as a detective and was being praised for his clever wit. From what the blonde had said, it didn’t sound like Jackson had found a similar calling with regards to his own genius. So Jackson was left alone while his friend and fellow nerd became popular. _Very_ popular. Kaito also guessed that, compared to a boy who could run across half of London to chase down a purse thief, Jackson probably hadn’t been as strong or athletic as Hakuba. Body image wasn’t just a pressure put on girls – there were expectations that boys wouldn’t be scrawny or effeminate. There may have been other pressures from home that Hakuba was unaware of.

Any of those could explain why Jackson had lashed out at Hakuba. His final act, though… Kaito didn’t have to be a math genius to run the statistics about the chances of Jackson escaping trouble when the police and campus security showed up, combined with the knowledge that Jackson was up against Hakuba, who was a decent fighter. As Hakuba’s best friend, Jackson would know the depth with which Hakuba craved answers for everything in his life and would understand that Hakuba abhorred murder in all of its forms. Suicide included. Short of killing the detective himself, committing suicide with no explanation was the worst thing that Jackson could have ever done to Hakuba.

Though he wasn’t ready to let this drop permanently, Kaito knew that digging in now would only hurt Hakuba further. Kaitou were a subtle breed, and he’d work it out of the detective a little at a time. He pasted on a smile he didn’t feel. “Yes, challenges, those should come next on the agenda, shouldn’t they? I don’t know whether you’ve prepared a dare for me, but I do believe that, in light of your –” using the term “failure” right now would be cruel “– temporary setback, your challenge should be especially difficult.”

“I’m at your mercy,” Hakuba replied, a sarcastic expression crossing his face. Kaito laughed and the tension broke.

“I’m still plotting your punishment for misplacing the proof. Do you have a challenge for me?”

“I do.” Hakuba sat back and nibbled at a biscuit. “I reckon, given that you schedule your thefts with some regularity and given your earlier mention of multiple targets that change locations, that you have a list somewhere of items to steal. For your next heist, I dare you to pick two pieces of artwork from your list and take them both around the same time.”

Kaito gasped dramatically, hand clutching his heart. “Tantei-san! Are you _encouraging_ me to steal things? Should I be worried?”

“If they’re on your list, you’re going to steal them anyway. I’d just like to see how you would get from one site to the other in a short period of time.”

“How short are we talking here? Within an hour?”

“That sounds reasonable, _if_ your choices are in different buildings.”

Kaito smiled. “What, you thought I was going to take the easy route and steal two from the same museum?” The thought had crossed his mind.

“I don’t pretend to understand your thought processes, Kid. However, you did take the simplest course for the Sun-drop Topaz. Any other night and the no-disguise restriction would have been much more difficult.”

“That’s not being lazy, that’s being clever. What’s my limit if I do decide to pick two from the same building, hmm?”

“Ten minutes, and even that’s pushing it.”

“I accept your challenge. You didn’t ask, but given that I have confidence in my abilities, I will add that I will go without my assistant for this operation. I will personally take both items.”

“Careful, Kid. Self-confidence is important, but no one likes arrogance.”

Kid laughed. “Who was the one who came to Japan saying that it would be a cinch to catch up with the infamous Kaitou Kid?”

Hakuba raised an eyebrow. “If you haven’t noticed, I’ve gotten the closest out of anyone.” He gestured to the table between them and managed to encompass their whole situation.

Kaito hummed noncommittally in response, because Hakuba did have a bit of a point there. “The idea I had for your challenge will have to be postponed in light of your aforementioned setback. Instead… what do you think about a scavenger hunt?”

“A scavenger hunt,” Hakuba echoed, looking suspicious. “It would have to be all legal. I’m not trespassing or breaking and entering to find anything.”

“Oh, I think I can contain myself to legal objects for this,” Kaito replied. “It’ll take some time to plan, so you’re off the hook for a while. The first clue and instructions will be relayed the same way you alerted me to your absence for Halloween. The rest of the clues, of course, will be dependent on you finding the items in order.”

“How many objects am I looking for, exactly?”

Kid’s shark grin made an appearance. “If you don’t like the thought of a scavenger hunt, I have some other ideas.”

“No, no, that’s fine,” Hakuba responded, no doubt backing up because of the mischievous look on Kaito’s face. “I was simply curious.”

“I don’t have an answer for you, since I haven’t made it up yet. The challenge I was planning to give you… well, I’ll leave it a surprise for next time. I couldn’t have known that your disguise challenge would go uncompleted.”

“Please, like you don’t keep the people on your task force under surveillance. Are we finished here?” Hakuba rolled his eyes.

Kaito sobered. “Not quite.” He slowly reached forward and took Hakuba’s wrist in his hand. “I am really, truly sorry,” he said, rubbing his thumb in circles gently along the veins on the inside. Kaito maintained unblinking eye contact with a suddenly frozen Hakuba. “I had no idea about your friend. Next time, if I ask something that invasive… you can say no. Not answer me. These evenings are about fun and a little humiliation, not reopening scars.” Kaito had watched his father die at age eight and he still remembered it with perfect clarity. There was no question that Hakuba could still close his eyes and see his middle school friend at the moment that life left him.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Hakuba’s voice was soft.

“Good. And one more thing.” Kaito suddenly smiled, removing his hand from Hakuba and producing the Ichikawa’s Sapphire with a snap of his fingers. “Would you mind terribly if I asked you to return this for me? Say that you found it in your favorite teacup. Given that I’ve returned jewels to Nakamori-keibu’s house and left them in the desks of task force officers, I don’t doubt that they’ll believe you.”

Hakuba snorted but made no move to take it. “Your fans would kill me if I accepted a ring from you.”

Kaito let out a few chuckles that quickly turned into full-out laughter. He caught the detective smiling a bit too at the ludicrous notion of Kid proposing to him. “Alright then, Tantei-san, I’ll return the gem another way.” Hakuba would be in for a surprise tomorrow when he poured out the last of the Frosted Flakes. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Goodnight, Kid.”

“Goodnight to you as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SR: Well that ended on a down note, didn't it? Both boys got a bit depressed thinking about their pasts in the end. :P How the hell did that happen? Ah well. I'm sure things will bounce back next chapter. I had a lot of fun writing Saguru's interactions with both Akako and Sonoko this go-round. They are a lot of fun to write. And on top of that Saguru and Kid appear to be making progress in opening up and becoming more comfortable around each other. Even with all the depressing talk during this chapter, I love how these meetings go. Their interactions are just so fun!
> 
> MG: Indeed, but even in the sad moments, Kaito tried to keep some humor going (And geez, Kaito, it's too early to be giving Saguru a ring, you goof). And I agree that next chapter, things should be light again. I have absolutely no idea how we're going to write Kaito stealing two jewels at once, but I'm sure it will be an adventure. And SR and I have a vague idea of what Saguru is going to be searching for, but that's still up in the air too!
> 
> SR: Even though it's the boys challenging each other, I think in reality we're the ones challenging ourselves to come up with these scenarios. Well we haven't failed yet! Can't wait for this next set of challenges, MG!
> 
> MG: Me neither! I'm looking forward to it, as always. Thanks for reading, everyone, and please leave a review! We appreciate every bit of feedback :D


	8. The Travel Challenge (Part 1)

SAGURU

Saguru awoke early the next morning feeling shaky and sluggish. There was a taste of bile in the back of his throat and he headed to his bathroom to wash out the taste. Shaking, he splashed water on his face and stared at trembling fingers, relieved to see them clean and not covered in blood like they had been in his nightmare. The scar on his right hand stood out in stark relief against his pale skin in the harsh bright lighting in his bathroom. He’d gotten it from the glass shard prank when Jack had only been trying to hurt him.

Jack…

Why had he told Kid about that? Saguru hadn’t talked to anybody about what had happened with his old friend since the therapist cleared him from the grief counseling his mother had forced him to go through. Three years had passed since then, and he was finally starting to move past that. He was starting to open up again and found new friends in Akako, Sonoko, Aoko and her friends, and maybe even Kuroba. But he hadn’t told any of them about Jack. Not even Akako, who was perhaps the closest thing he had to a best friend to these days. So why tell Kid? He could have just given a brief account of the event or, better yet, found something else to share. Now that he’d had time to think about it, there were a few other accounts he could have told Kid about instead, so why had he reopened that can of worms?

With a shake of his head, Saguru resigned himself to having a rare early morning and occupied himself with getting his things together for school and heading downstairs to make breakfast.

Baaya was surprised to see him up and asked him if he wanted an omelet for breakfast. Saguru wasn’t feeling particularly hungry that morning, but that wasn’t unusual. He usually skipped breakfast most weekdays. This morning, however, he figured he might as well try to eat something if only to pass the time. He got out a bowl and the box of Frosted Flakes. It was light, meaning that the cereal was nearly out, so he made a note of it on the grocery list on the side of the fridge. After setting the cereal box and his bowl on the table, he went to get the milk and a spoon. It was at this moment that his father walked into the kitchen.

“Saguru!” Akira Hakuba boomed. Saguru nearly dropped the milk carton. “I can’t believe my eyes! I thought nothing could get you out of bed before six-thirty.” The elder Hakuba chuckled merrily as he took a seat at the table next to the spot his son had claimed, waiting for Baaya to finish cooking his usual morning omelet.

“Good morning, Father,” Saguru said, managing a smile as he took his seat.

“You’re looking a bit pale. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Just had trouble sleeping, that’s all. Nothing to worry about.”

“Ah. Long night? There was a Kid heist, yes? Is Nakamori-keibu treating you well?”

“Yes to all of the above,” Saguru nodded, pouring the last of the cereal into his bowl. There was a loud  tink! He stared in surprise and then irritation at the sight of Ichikawa's Sapphire ring gleaming brightly in the bowl, despite a dusting of sugar and corn-flake powder from the cereal.

“What the devil?” his father said, blinking in surprise before bursting into laughter. “Is there something you need to tell me, son, about you and this thief of yours?”

“What? No!” Saguru cried, face turning pink. Damn it, Kid! He  knew something like this would happen if he were given the ring to take back to the Task Force. And it had to happen in front of his father of all people.

“Why the instant denial?” his father smirked. “You and the Kaitou Kid aren’t involved, are you? Oh, I should have seen this coming. The late nights, the obsessiveness, why you never date–”

“Father!” Saguru snapped. “You know perfectly well–!”

“All right, all right, take it easy,” his father chuckled. “I’m only pulling your leg. Oh, wait until your mother hears about–”

“Don’t you dare,” Saguru growled. “She’ll never leave me alone and go on and on about it. You know how she gets.”

“Ah. Indeed,” his father winced. “Very well, I won’t tell her. And I’ll take the ring back in for you on my way to work. It’ll need to be cleaned before we return it to its owner, but I’m sure Nakamori-kun will take care of that.”

“Thank you,” Saguru scowled as he used a napkin to pick the ring out of his cereal.

After breakfast Saguru set out for school in a rather foul mood. He just knew that word would get out about how Kid had returned the ring. He could expect some light teasing from the Task Force about it along the same lines as his father’s teasing. And Sonoko. God help him if she ever found out. Damn Kid. But at least he’d stopped thinking about Jack. That was something. Better to be mad with Kid than to be depressed over the past.

He swore to himself that he’d get Kid back at the next heist and that he wouldn’t be caught again so easily. He’d been caught off guard last night when he’d been grabbed right after the lights went out. Saguru hadn’t had time to adjust to the darkness and had been quickly disarmed. How Kid did it, Saguru wasn’t sure, but it was clear that he might have to undergo more training in different lighting situations. It had been humiliating to be caught off guard like that. He should have expected a black out instead of Kid’s usual smoke screen, especially when one factored in the delicate clothing and artifacts kept in the museum. Kid never damaged anything of value, so of course he wouldn’t use a smokescreen. Saguru was becoming too relaxed around Kid. He couldn’t let that happen outside of their meetings. He wouldn’t.

The day started out pretty normal. Aoko had a good rant about Kid and the heist last night, chased Kuroba around the room, Keiko and Takumi asked Saguru about the heist, he got his own rant in, and traded insults and the usual banter with Kuroba all before the teacher arrived and started class. Everything had been normal. Until English class.

They were working on a group project and today they were supposed to be making posters depicting one of the assigned books they were reading to go along with a book report they’d be writing. It was just his cursed luck that Saguru would be paired to work with Kuroba. Their book was  Of Mice and Men so Kuroba had sketched out a very detailed picture of two men sitting side by side on a grassy hill with what was sure to be a lovely sunset behind them once it was finished. Kuroba was asking for Saguru’s opinion on how to go about coloring in the men when Aoko passed where they were working and tripped, spilling all of the little containers of paint she’d been carrying all over the place.

“Clumsy, Ahoko,” Kuroba laughed as he and Saguru turned to help her pick up the materials she’d dropped. As they were giving the items back to her a paint container popped open and splashed all over Saguru’s hands. It was red.

“Ah! Hakuba-kun! Aoko is so sorry,” Aoko said helplessly as she adjusted the load in her arms.

“Good grief, you’re hopeless. And stop freaking out. He’s not hurt. It’s just paint,” Kaito scoffed. “Right, Hakuba? …Hakuba?”

Saguru hadn’t heard either of them, attention fixed on the red substance that dripped off his hands and ran down his fingers to his wrists. He knew it was paint. The hue was too bright and it was too cold to be blood, but he couldn’t help but feel sick and remember…

“Hakuba-kun!”

Saguru snapped out of it and quickly excused himself from the class, ignoring Kuroba, Aoko and Akako’s worried and confused looks. He washed his hands furiously to get every speck of red off his hands and collected himself before returning to class and pretended as if nothing was wrong.

Aoko and the others kept shooting him concerned looks for the rest of the class period. They all looked like they wanted to talk to him and tried many times, but didn’t manage to get any words out. Saguru knew he’d worried them, but continued to pretend he hadn’t had a minor freak-out in front of their English class. He was relieved that when Keiko and Takumi had finally worked up the nerve to talk to him that it was about joining them on a trip with everyone Saturday to go out shopping. Saguru had given them his best smile and told them he would be delighted to join them.

This seemed to make them all relax and they no longer aimed worried and concerned looks in his direction. He was fine and determined to prove it to them. He accepted Aoko’s invitation to join the gang for lunch, made sure to smile, and laughed at a few of Saiki’s jokes. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about what had happened in English class by the end of the break, and Hakuba turned his focus on his studies and away from bloody hands and nightmares. And if he was a little more quiet than usual for the rest of the day so what? He was fine. Honestly.

 

KAITO

Kaito had worn enough masks to know that what had happened in English class wasn’t just a case of an overzealous need for cleanliness. Apparently Kaito wasn’t the only one who was still thinking about Hakuba’s admission last night. Of all the colors to spill, it had to be red. Kuroba Kaito wasn’t supposed to know about the incident, and Kaitou Kid wasn’t supposed to be here, so he would have to be indirect if he wanted to cheer up the detective.

Kaito waited for a moment when the teacher was facing the class – calling on Takumi to read a passage from their history textbook – and struck. After two minutes Takumi fell silent as whispers began to overtake the class, some pointing up at the blackboard or nudging each other. Kaito watched as Hakuba finally look up from his notebook to see what had gotten everyone so worked up. The other teen blinked, and a mixture of surprise, confusion, and amusement colored his expression at the sight of the English words written in a large empty space at the top of the black board:

THE BAKER WORKS EVERYDAY BECAUSE HE KNEADS THE DOUGH.

The teacher noticed the direction of her students’ attention and made what sounded like a cut off exclamation, throwing a mild glare in Kaito’s direction before erasing it off the board. Kaito looked on innocently, not appearing to react to the erasure even though it was obviously written in his handwriting.

Giggles broke out again a few minutes later:

I DON’T TRUST STAIRS BECAUSE THEY’RE ALWAYS UP TO SOMETHING.

Hakuba twisted to look at Kaito, head tilted questioningly. Kaito raised an eyebrow back as if to say “What are  you looking at, Hakuba-kun?” The detective rolled his eyes and turned back to face the board. The teacher noticed the second English pun on her board, flushed with frustration, and erased the writing again.

Kaito waited ten minutes before allowing the third to appear. He was going for literary humor this time:

WHY IS A RAVEN LIKE A WRITING DESK?

BECAUSE IT CAN PRODUCE A FEW NOTES, THOUGH THEY ARE VERY FLAT; AND IT IS NEVAR PUT WITH THE WRONG END IN FRONT.

Like the first one, the students who weren’t fluent in English didn’t laugh, though they certainly noticed it. The corners of Hakuba’s mouth turned up at this one, and though Hakuba didn’t laugh outright, his lips quirked up into an amused smile and his shoulders shook with contained mirth. When he settled back into the rhythm of work, he seemed less gloomy, so Kaito considered his mission accomplished.

Kaito immersed himself in plans for his next heist and ideas for Hakuba’s little scavenger hunt until Saturday, when he’d promised to go out with the group to the mall. However, He got a text from Hayashi saying that he’d caught a cold and wouldn’t be able to make it. That meant his girlfriend wasn’t coming either. When Kaito arrived at the meeting spot about ten minutes late, he was surprised to see that only Aoko, Akako, and Hakuba were there.

“Huh, I thought I’d be the last one here. Oh, Raito-kun’s sick, by the way.”

“Saiki-kun had family plans that he didn’t know about,” Aoko explained, “and Takumi-chan has to study for a make-up test because of that day she was out last week. Keiko couldn’t come either. So Aoko supposes that it’s just us four.”

“’Kay. Where are we going first?”

Aoko smiled. “Aoko is out of perfume, actually.”

“I am not setting foot in that store again, Aoko. It gave me a killer headache last time, remember? And then they almost banned me because that store clerk thought she could –”

“Yeah, Aoko knows, and you got off with a ‘warning’. Akako-chan and Aoko can go there first, along with any other icky girl places you’d turn your nose up at, and we’ll call to meet up with you later.”

“Wait, you’re leaving me alone with him?” That wasn’t exactly preferable. Kaito exchanged a look with the detective, who didn’t look thrilled at the prospect either.

“Go to the arcade or something. Do guy stuff. And don’t forget that Hakuba-kun probably knows how to get away with murder.” She chuckled and held out her arm to Akako. The witch took it and smiled wickedly back at Kaito, waving regally. Kaito made a rude hand gesture and she laughed.

The two classmates stood motionless for a very long sixty seconds after the girls had sauntered off. Hakuba coughed uncomfortably. “Unless there’s somewhere in particular you’d like to go, perhaps we should take Aoko-kun’s suggestion. I’m at a loss to come up with an alternate activity.”

“Do you like arcade games?”

“I’m indifferent.”

“Hmm. No games. Trying on clothes together would be weird –”

“Agreed.”

“– even though you’ve got nice legs.”

“ I beg your pardon?”

“Oh, please, Hakuba, it’s not like I’ve forgotten our run-in at Tokyo Tower.”

Hakuba sighed. “Please stop bothering me about that, Kuroba-kun. I already said that I’m not going to tell you why I was doing it, and you promised not to bring it up again.” The detective was turning red, though whether it was from frustration or embarrassment (or both), Kaito couldn’t say.

“I promised no such thing. I said I would never bring it up in front of other people. I’m curious, Hakuba, not cruel.”

“My motives are none of your business,” Hakuba ground out. The magician bit back a smirk. Kaito knew very well why Hakuba had done it, and Hakuba  knew that Kaito knew why, or at least heavily suspected he knew why, so it was a great subject for ticking off the detective.

“There’s this enormous store that sells movies, music, and video games,” Kaito offered, feeling better now that the atmosphere was less awkward between them.

“That sounds perfect. Which floor?”

“Third.” Once they were in the store, Kaito followed as Hakuba breezed past the new releases and made a beeline for the foreign film aisles. “Are you looking for anything in particular?”

“Mmm, yes. I’m looking to see if a particular film has been translated into Japanese. I’d like to show it to everyone in our group of friends, but my copy is from England so there aren’t Japanese subtitles. What about you?”

“Nothing specific. Which movie is it you want?”

“It’s called The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and is based on a comic book.”

“Huh. Is it a personal favorite?”

“It’s up there on my list. Ah! They  do have it here.” Hakuba’s face broke into a wide, genuine smile without sarcasm or wry humor as he pulled the DVD case off the shelf. He seemed so untroubled, so happy. There was something magnetic about it, and Kaito’s heart jumped.

Huh?

Kaito frowned and looked closer at his classmate, but the smile settled back into a more normal expression for Hakuba. All of the magician’s internal organs were functioning normally now. Hmm. That anomaly was probably the result of his surprise at seeing Hakuba smile like that in person. He’d seen it before in the pictures from Benoit-chan’s Halloween album, but it was shocking to find it here. Hakuba had let his guard down around Kaito, whom the detective believed to be an international thief.

The blonde was looking at him expectantly and Kaito realized that he had missed whatever question Hakuba asked. “Hmm?” His mind was a little fuzzy at the moment. From the, you know, surprise.

 

SAGURU

Saguru rolled his eyes.

“I asked you if there was anything in this store you wanted to look through.” His classmate still looked a bit out of it. “Are you alright, Kuroba-kun?”

“No, I’m fine!” the other teen exclaimed with a wide grin, a faint flush spreading across his cheeks, and bounced a few steps away to peruse the comedies aisles. Odd. 

Well, since Kuroba was apparently not done looking through this store, Saguru allowed himself to linger in the foreign films section a bit longer, wrinkling his nose at some of the American imports. For every good film that country seemed to put out, ten atrocities were released as well. Bored after another few minutes of perusal, Saguru decided to see what Kuroba was up to. He wasn’t surprised to find Kuroba in the anime aisles, but his classmate didn’t appear to be looking for anything in particular, though he was snickering at some of the titles.

The mischievous look on the magician’s face made Saguru a little nervous, so he was relieved when Kuroba headed over to the gaming section and started looking at the new releases. With a sigh, Saguru followed, wondering what the magician was up to now. Saguru ignored most of the shoot-’em-up games that seemed to take up a majority of the shelves - honestly, what was with today’s generation’s obsession with violence? - and half-heartedly glanced at the back of some of the fantasy based games.

When Kuroba was finished looking around the electronics store the two of them paid for their purchases and then proceeded to wander a bit aimlessly through the next few floors window shopping. Saguru paused outside a music store where they sold instruments (mostly guitars and keyboards) and a variety of related items from sheet music to CDs, tuners, metronomes, reeds, strings and cleaning supplies.

“Do you want to go in?” Kuroba asked.

“Why not?” Saguru shrugged.

“What do you play? A violin like your beloved Holmes?” Kuroba snickered.

“I do,” Saguru nodded. “But I also play a variety of other instruments, mainly piano, cello, and bass. What about you, Kuroba? Do you know how to play an instrument?”

“Not really,” Kuroba shrugged. “My parents signed me up for piano lessons when I was younger and I liked it alright, but I stopped playing some time before I finished elementary school. My mom sent back a flute from India once and I taught myself how to play it. I got good too, but I kinda stopped playing regularly around the time I entered high school.”

“Pity,” Saguru mused, running his hand appreciatively along the side of a grand piano on display in the middle of the store. “Playing a musical instrument is a relaxing hobby. I often play accompaniments with my mother and her side of the family back home in England. Especially around Christmas. We’ll spend hours singing and playing our favorite carols and tunes. Mum’s already sent out some new sheet music from America that she wants us all to try. She’s become a big Lori Line fan recently.”

“Oh?” Kuroba asked with a teasing glint in his eye, but looked curious all the same. “You? Sing? Or do you just play along in the background?”

“I sing,” Saguru scowled, a tad bit on the defensive. “I’m quite good actually, if I do say so myself.”

“Tenor or bass?”

“Tenor usually, but I have been working on my bass in recent years and am able to sing a lot of the lower range now without sounding like a bullfrog.”

That last bit was said in jest and got Kuroba to laugh. It was a more genuine expression, and looked nice on Kuroba. His classmate should smile like that more often.

“Mommy, can we go now?” a little girl’s voice sighed. “I want to get the new Elsa doll!”

Kuroba and Saguru looked up and spotted a little girl with twin braids. She look as if she were a little older than Kyou and was tugging at her mother’s pants leg.

“We have to wait a few more minutes, Hana,” her mother said. “They’re still putting together my order in the back room.”  The girl, Hana, pouted and turned away, coming a little closer to Saguru and Kuroba’s position by the piano, staring at a selection of metronomes. Kuroba turned and rose an eyebrow at Saguru. Saguru stared right back at him, mirroring his expression. Seriously, what? Was Kuroba waiting for him to do something? Kuroba glanced back at the little girl and then back at Saguru with a curious expression.

Rolling his eyes, Saguru turned away from Kuroba and little Hana and instead examined the piano. A store clerk came over then and asked Saguru if he was interested in the instrument.

“Perhaps,” Saguru mused, ignoring Kuroba, who… did he look disappointed? Had he expected to see Saguru do something? For the girl? If so, what? “It is a fine looking instrument.”

“Do you play? Or are you just looking around,” the clerk asked, looking mildly irritated. The store probably got a lot of lookers, but not a lot of serious customers since it was in a large department building.

“Occasionally,” Saguru answered, before indicating the seat-bench. “May, I?” The clerk just shrugged and waved at him to go ahead.

Kuroba had turned away from him and was now crouched down at the little girl’s level, talking to her quietly. She, like many little girls around the world this year, were obsessed with Disney’s Frozen.

Saguru played a couple scales to test out the piano’s tuning and found that it was decent. It could use some finer tuning, but it was adequate for a store floor model. After another glance up at Kuroba and the girl he allowed himself a satisfied smile before wiping the expression away entirely. He started playing the opening to Frozen’s “Let It Go”, stored away in his photographic memory from the sheet music that his mother had sent him that was composed by Lori Line.

The little girl’s head snapped up instantly, eyes round and wide. Keeping his expression composed, Saguru began to sing in a middle range bass, not wanting to go too deep without a decent warm up first.  After the low note about halfway through the first verse, Saguru popped up into the tenor range to sing the higher notes. By now Kuroba and Hana had joined him by the piano, and the few customers in the store and all the clerks were watching. Some were even poking their heads out from the back room.

Saguru almost startled in surprise when Kuroba suddenly jumped in, singing a harmony on the chorus, the little girl staring between with a delighted expression on her face.  He dropped out of the song for the second verse and let Kuroba have a go, solo, watching in admiration as Kuroba really got into the song, his eyes sparking with glee, hamming his performance up for their little audience. Show off.  When Kuroba got to “ I’m free~ ” he looked positively radiant.

Saguru joined back in for the chorus, sharing a wide grin with Kuroba as they both began to belt out the tune, the little girl joining in with them.  He pounded at the piano keys, his fingers flying as he hit the rifts, adding in a little flourish with his wrist movements for show that he didn’t normally add when playing, but, what the hell? If Kuroba was embellishing a little, why shouldn’t he? He was the one playing the piano and had started this after all.

“ My power flurries through the air into the ground~ ,” Kuroba sang, nodding at Saguru to take up the next line.

“ My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around~ ” Saguru replied, then both of them jumped in, finishing the song together. Saguru dropped back down into bass again to sing the harmony this time. Their voices blended surprisingly well considering they were singing in two differing ranges and that this was a completely improvised and spontaneous performance. Or perhaps Kuroba was just that good and had perfect pitch.

It was both funny and strange how their voices harmonized that ending line with Saguru deep down in the bass range and Kaito floating up in the tenor, but it somehow worked and blended, sounding pretty good. Saguru played out the ending bars of the song, and, caught up in the moment, for the heck of it played a few bars from “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” before playing the final end notes of “Let it Go.” 

Saguru and Kuroba grinned at each other for a bit before being startled by the sudden burst of cheers and applause. Saguru flushed in embarrassment when he realized that their little performance had gathered quite an audience from other departments, many of which had phones out and had been recording and taking pictures. Even Aoko and Akako were there, Aoko clapping enthusiastically while Akako smirked at him.

“So you  can Let It Go,” Kuroba grinned. “You really are quite good.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Saguru smiled, blushing a bit at the praise. “You sing a wonderful harmony.”

“I try~,” Kaito trilled.

“You two were fantastic!” Aoko squealed when she and Akako managed to make their way over. “Hakuba-kun! Why didn’t you tell Aoko you knew how to play piano?”

“It never really came up, I suppose,” Saguru shrugged, starting to feel a little uncomfortable with all of the sudden praise.

 

KAITO

Aaaaand now it was time to move on.  Kaito was still feeling a little jumpy from the exhilaration that their unplanned concert had brought on.  He just wanted to be everywhere at once which, if he mentioned out loud, would undoubtedly be met with an exasperated sigh from Hakuba and a lecture about matter and how blah, blah, blah, the effects of time meant that a single body couldn’t be in multiple places at the same moment.

Almost appropriate, given his next challenge.

Wait, no Kaito, not thinking about that yet.  Scheming was not to be done at the mall with Hakuba around.  That was just asking for trouble.  If Kaito’s gaze lingered too long on something that inspired an idea for his heist, Hakuba would notice and remember.  Their meetings were dangerous enough.

God, why was Kaito even still doing this?  Curiosity?  Was that something he could even justify to himself as a reason to risk his father’s legacy and Kid’s mission?  What would happen if he just stopped showing up to meetings?  It was a strange thought, but Kaito’s reactions to Hakuba had been strange all day.  He mentally sat back and folded his hands, imagining it like it was a game or a film.  What choices would the detective protagonist be presented with?  Which would he follow?  How would it affect his behavior at future Kid heists?

Would he lose respect for Kid?  That felt very wrong to Kaito, the same way anxiety twisted him up.  He didn’t like that idea.

But how long could this go on?  Either Kaito would find Pandora and destroy it, thus losing the impetus for heists and ending their conversations, or Hakuba would finally use the data he gathered on Kid to corner Kaito.  Other options…?  It could just keep continuing, on and on until one of them had had enough.

“Kaito, are you okay?”  Kaito snapped back to the present and looking around.  Somehow, while he had been on a mental tangent, they’d left the music store and gone to the food court.  He was sitting in a booth with ice cream in front of him.   Strawberry  ice cream.  He didn’t even like strawberry ice cream.  “Kaito,” Aoko repeated.  “Are you sick?”

“No,” he finally responded.

Koizumi sniffed incredulously.  “You’ve been practically catatonic for the last five minutes.  I had to order for you.”  Fuck,  that’s why he had strawberry.  The witch probably knew he hated it.

“Sorry.  I was thinking.”

“Don’t strain yourself,” Hakuba quipped.  Kaito stuck his tongue out at him.  “Juvenile.”

“Hakuba-kun!  Kaito!  You were getting along a few minutes ago.  What happened?”  Aoko sighed heavily, as if a friend’s job was never done.

“Nothing’s wrong, Ahoko,” he lied.  “I was trying to remember the last time I sang that wasn’t in a school choir or something.”

“Stupid Kaito, you sing to your doves all the time.  Aoko hears you when you leave the window open.”

Kaito felt his face heat up as both Koizumi and Hakuba turned their eyes on him.  “I meant really  with  someone and with other people around.  I think it was with - with Dad.”

“You sing to me on my birthday.”

“The birthday song doesn’t count!”

“What about Christmas carols?” she accused.  “You sing those.”

“I  hum those, which is not the same thing.”

“Ah.  But you  definitely sang at karaoke with the girls.”  Aoko looked like she’d won something.

“Only because you made me.  Are we done talking about this?”  He was still thinking about the challenge exchange and his good mood from earlier was gone.  Kid should stop going.  There was too much to lose: what if, in planning for a showy heist, he overlooked safety precautions?  Snake had been mysteriously absent lately, which made him both relieved and nervous, but why now?

Were they planning something big, or was Kid just picking bad targets?  Kaito wouldn’t be the only one in danger if they reappeared and Kid was caught unprepared.  The snipers probably wouldn’t have a problem picking off the odd task force officer who wandered too close to where they were concealed, and any shots fired at Kaito had the potential to go awry and hit bystanders.

It made him sick to his stomach.  “Does anyone want strawberry ice cream?”

“Oh, I’d  love it,” Koizumi replied with a huge smile, sliding his dish across to where she’d finished her own.  “Thank you, Kuroba.”

“Mmm.”  Kaito was left to mull over his thoughts until Aoko left for the ladies’ room and Koizumi broke off her conversation with Hakuba to address him:

“Silence is a bit unnerving, coming from you.  Cat got your tongue?”

“No.”

“Then you’re working on a magic trick?” she hazarded.

“Nah.”

“Hmm, you’ve been a bit lack-luster as of late.”

Kaito’s head snapped up.  “Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“A lady never picks a fight.”

“I can repeat the question if you’d like.”  Koizumi’s face darkened ominously at the implied insult.  “In point of fact you  were the one who started things off on the wrong foot, pointing out that witches and magicians don’t get along well.”

“I was just trying to start a conversation here.  And I thought we had tacitly decided to set aside those incidents from shortly after I transferred in.”

“And I have.  That doesn’t mean we’re close friends now, or that I like you.”

Hakuba bumped Kaito’s shoulder.  “Kuroba, it’s none of my business why you and Akako-kun don’t like each other, but if you’re planning to start something, do it somewhere else.”

“I like Kuroba-kun just fine,” Koizumi answered smoothly, a serene smile in place.  “I’d be pleased if we could get along better, in fact.”

“A desire that might be aided if you refrained from mentioning  private speculations in public places.”

Koizumi’s smile widened and Kaito suddenly felt like a cornered mouse as she purred, “If that’s what you wish.  I expect we’ll be having an  extensive  chat later, hmm?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SR: Sorry guys! College finals and writers block has stalled us in getting this latest chapter out to you. Hopefully it was worth the wait. :)
> 
> MG: My apologies also. And hopefully you're intrigued: what does Akako want to talk to Kaito about? Why is Kaito being especially cranky with her? Find out in the next chapter! Also, I still have no idea how Kaito's going to steal two gems at the same time, but it should be fun figuring it out ;)
> 
> SR: Considering it's the holidays and everything, I think getting a chapter out at all before Christmas is great! I know I've been busy since Thanksgiving between finals and holiday preparations. I actually went and saw Lori Line live in Concert the Sunday after Thanksgiving when she was in Sioux Falls South Dakota. That's where the music store scene and Hakuba and Kaito's impromptu concert came from. The idea hit me as I watched Lori Line play that particular number. XD I even bought a copy of her Let It Go piano sheet music (though I don't play piano, but I play flute!). I also look forward to writing Hakuba's scavenger hunt and see how that's going to go! ;)
> 
> MG: Thanks for reading, everyone, and please leave a review! We appreciate every bit of feedback :D Happy holidays from both of us!


	9. The Travel Challenge (Part 2)

KAITO

Kaito looked up from his book to see a figure lounging on the windowsill. “Holy  hell ,” he responded, managing to keep his voice to a reasonable level but unable to mask his jump in surprise. He climbed off the bed. “Koizumi, what are you doing here? It’s like, midnight.” He wondered if this was what people felt like when Kid showed up unexpectedly.

“Midnight is traditionally the witching hour,” Koizumi reminded him. She hopped off the sill and leaned an old broom against the wall, which explained how she got up to his second-story window. “I thought it was perfect timing. You wouldn’t be asleep anyway, and this way, we can both speak freely without other parties interrupting.”

“Okay. What do you want?”

“You know what I want.” She folded her hands delicately, a small sigh escaping as she composed herself. “This enmity isn’t just affecting us anymore; it’s filtering into our interactions with our classmates. I’d rather avoid a full-out fight in front of them, Aoko-kun especially because she’s a nice girl who wants her friends to get along. A friendship between us, or at least a solid truce, would keep people from asking about why, specifically, we’ve had arguments in the past. I know you have no desire to elaborate on our first encounter as magician and sorceress, Kid.”

“I’m not –”

“I’m not stupid, Kuroba Kaito, and this condescension on your part by denying what I already know is neither gentlemanly nor effective. We’re not going to get anywhere if you keep playing dumb.”

Kaito exhaled heavily. “ If I was Kid, I still wouldn’t trust that you don’t have some ulterior motive.” But he backed down from his confrontational stance and opened his bedroom door, gesturing that they go downstairs.  She followed him to the kitchen, where she took a seat at the table and he began making tea. Not to be polite, he told himself. It was just a habit.

He cleared his throat to break the silence. “Convince me that you’re not gunning for my free will again, or something.”

She laughed. “I’m curious as to why you think I still want it.” Kaito’s head snapped over to her, and she chuckled at the reaction. “You’re much more entertaining with your own mind guiding your actions, and I know when to give up gracefully. I’ve been humbled some by the existence of a person I can’t control.”

“But you can still control everyone else,” Kaito replied disdainfully as he poured the tea. “What’s going on with you and Hakuba, anyway? Why are you trying to wrap him around your finger?”

“I didn’t realize you were concerned about him.”

“I’m not. I just think that manipulating someone to like you is wrong. All of a sudden, you two are  really close. I figure that you doing your –” he wiggled his fingers “– witchy things to him makes the most sense.”

Koizumi’s pause stretched between them for a long moment. Then her voice took on a faux-innocence that gave Kaito goose bumps as she replied: “You’re worried that I’ve become close to Saguru-kun?” He decided that he  really didn’t like that tone from her and hid a shiver. “I see .”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just intrigued by the notion that you care where his heart lies.”

“I do  not  care where – wait, so he’s crushing on you?” His stomach twisted unpleasantly. “When did that start? Are you two…?” He wasn’t quite sure what he was asking. Then he remembered what started their current argument, and got angry. “Koizumi, stop twisting him with your magic. Just because you  can  manipulate people doesn’t mean you  should .” Kaito’s hand clenched on the handle of his teacup, rattling it in its saucer.

“I haven’t influenced Saguru-kun with my arts at all. We’re simply good friends.” Her eyes stayed on him, her voice clear and unwavering.

Kaito’s training with body language informed him that she was telling the truth, and something like cool water surged through his veins, dampening the anger. It took a moment for Kaito to recognize the feeling as relief. But why would he be relieved that Hakuba and Koizumi weren’t an item? He sure as all hell wasn’t interested in Koizumi in the slightest. Hakuba being single had the benefit of allowing him to spend more time working on the challenges Kaito gave him. It also was a benefit because– 

Because what?

Kaito thought he might have the slightest inkling of where that sentence had been going, and immediately slammed on the breaks. He wasn’t willing to go down that road.  No, he wouldn’t even consider it. That was a stupid thought.

Some trickster god was laughing up there somewhere as Kaito tripped over his own brain trying to think around the answer to his question.

Kaito realized that it had been a long time since Koizumi spoke, and scrambled to remember that last thing she said. “I guess if you aren’t putting a magical whammy on our classmates, then I suppose everything’s fine.”

“I don’t need your permission,” Koizumi smiled, “but I’ll take your answer as recognition of a truce between us.”

He put his razor sharp smile back into place. “Quite. However, if you nudge any of my friends’ emotions with your spells, I swear by every bone in my body that you’ll regret it.”

“There’s the Kid we know and love.” Koizumi took the last sip of her tea and stood up. “I’ve always been fascinated with how you switch so easily from Kuroba to Kid. Perhaps during the course of our truce I shall see it more. Good night, Kaitou.”

Kaito blinked and she was gone. He froze for three long seconds before tearing up the stairs to his room. Her broom had disappeared and the window she’d come through was closed. Just to be safe, though, Kaito checked every corner of the house, including the Kid room, before he was convinced that she was truly gone. The air felt lighter too now that there wasn’t the subtle crackle of magic that Kaito occasionally got a hint of when they were alone.

Restless, Kaito punched in his computer password and opened his chat with Sonoko. \Goooood evening, Sono-chan!/

He then remembered that it was after midnight and Sonoko was probably asleep.

A minute later, though, a reply chimed: \What are you doing up at this hour, goof?/  Guess she wasn’t asleep either.

\I could ask you the same thing. How fare your lovely sister and parents?/

\They’re doing well./

\What about your incredibly strong boyfriend?/

\Oh you know you’re the only one for me, Katsuki-kun! No need to be jealous! (He’s good, though, thanks for asking!)/

\Jealousy isn’t even in my vocabulary, dear :P  I’m your knight with shining hang glider./

\Haha./  There was a pause, and then Sonoko started typing again.  \Does the white knight have a princess? You don’t have to tell me who, but I’m suddenly ve~ry curious./

\No royalty in my life currently. I’m rather busy with my daytime activities and planning for my special events./

\Gotcha. Katsuki is all work and no play, huh?/

\My special events count as playing!!/

\Your “special events” are part of your job, silly. I meant like a game or a hobby that you can do with someone else./

He thought of the challenges and how they were technically initiated and carried out outside of heists, and how they weren’t necessary to his thieving. \Well, now that you mention it, I do have a hobby that’s not strictly related to my job./

\And does this hobby involve other people?/

\Yes, one other person. We manage to keep ourselves entertained./

\Oooh, what gender? Are they cute~?/  After a moment, she sent another message: \I’m assuming this crush is on someone in your real life rather than your other persona’s….. though it would be a TOTAL scandal if it WAS someone from your night life and I’d LOVE to hear that scoop!/

\My darling Sonoko, you’ve misunderstood me. I wouldn’t DREAM of crushing on this person, good looks aside./

\Why not???/

Kaito thought about several answers to that, including the words “obnoxious”, “know-it-all”, and “detective”, before writing \Our opinions on the magnificent Kid-sama differ greatly./

\Oh my god, a Kid hater? THAT’S SO TRAGIC, KATSUKI!/

\Sono-chaaan! Like I just said, I’m NOT in love with the Kid hater./  Kaito laughed at the idea of being in love with Hakuba. No way.

\I WILL CRY FOR YOU/

\SONOKO, DON’T/

\Right, okay, no crying. We need a plan. You must win over your true love, their appalling lack of good taste aside!!/

\While I appreciate your WONDERFULLY considerate offer, love, I think it’s getting late and we should get some sleep before your dastardly machinations get out of control./

\Okay, good night, Katsuki-kun! I will drop the subject of your love life FOR NOW but we will be talking about this later./

 

SAGURU

Saguru yawned, opening the morning paper. It was the weekend, so he’d allowed himself to sleep in a little more than he usually did on weekdays. Things had been a little insufferable around the Task Force and his father for the past week thanks to Kid and the damned ring he’d stolen. His father still found the whole debacle humorous and even though he hadn’t told Saguru’s mother like he’d promised, it didn’t stop the man from making the occasional joke. Saguru hadn’t bought a box of Frosted Flakes to replace the one he’d finished off that morning. There was a box of some rice cereal sitting in it’s place on the pantry shelf instead. The way Hakuba Sr. carried on, one would think that Saguru was actually dating the damned thief. What a joke. As  if Saguru would sink so low and fall for someone of the likes of Kid.

He was getting a little antsy though because he had yet to find or hear word from Kid about his scavenger hunt challenge or an upcoming heist. Winter break was coming up soon in Japan and he’d be making the trip back home to England soon to spend the holidays with his mother’s family. He was rather hoping that they’d get this next challenge in before he had to leave.

Finally , though, he found what he was looking for in the classified section of the paper that morning.

 

“Help Wanted : One adventurous person to find my twelve little friends to help reign in the new year. See Shen Jin Yang for more information in Asakusabashi, Taitou Ward. 

Thanks,

Utokai Douki.”

 

Saguru snorted. 

Utokai Douki aka Kaitou Kid. Not the best anagram that Kid had ever come up with, but it served its purpose. The message was unassuming and if Saguru hadn’t been looking for something from Kid related to a scavenger hunt, he would have missed it. The clues in the note were a little trickier to figure out. The first sentence told him his scavenger hunt’s theme: the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. He had to consult his computer to figure out the rest. The key was the name given. Shen Jin Yang. Shen was the earthly branch year for the Year of the Monkey, whose fixed element was metel - aka jin. Yang was just what half of the Yin-Yang symbol the monkey fell on. Some further research of Asakusabashi in Taitou Ward revealed the location, a Shinto shrine known for it’s monkey statue.

Saguru finished his breakfast and cleared his schedule for the weekend before getting on a bus to Taitou Ward and took the Sobu Line to Asakusabashi, walking the rest of the way on foot as he made his way to the shrine. He got there around one in the afternoon. It was a nice bustling part of Tokyo where there were all sorts of stores that sold traditional Japanese dolls and numerous craft items: beads in particular. Asakusabashi was known for their traditional dolls and bead stores. Saguru took his time to explore the area a bit before reaching the shrine. He wasn’t in much of a hurry. With how emphasized the monkey was in the note, Saguru figured he should wait until 3 o’clock. According to a Chinese Zodiac website, the ruling hours of the monkey were from 3:00-4:59 pm.

Until that time, Saguru explored some of the nearby stores, purchasing a few small items that he thought would make good Christmas gifts for his mother and even bought a nice traditional Japanese doll for Renee.

He was back and exploring the shrine right at 3 o’clock, eyes scanning the place, taking in the monkey statue that the shrine was known for. He looked around to see if he could find a note or something that would give him his next clue, but there was nothing around the statue. He spent the next half hour looking around the shrine, growing irritated with every passing minute he failed to find the next clue. 

It wasn’t until he was on his way back to the shrine’s entrance that he noticed something nestled in at the monkey statue’s base. He could have sworn that it hadn’t been there earlier when he’d first arrived at the shrine. He glanced around, but saw no one in the immediate vicinity. He crouched down and removed what turned out to be a golden chrysanthemum flower tied to a small package wrapped in washi paper. He carefully unwrapped the package and found a tiny little wood carving that resembled a monkey. The detail and workmanship was incredible. Saguru’s attention then moved to the paper it’d been wrapped in. There was more writing on it.

 

“Congradulations! You’ve found Shen Jin Yang! Can you find his cousin next? You Jin Yin is an early riser, but not much of a city person. You’ll find him tending to his garden. 

-K.K.”

 

Saguru frowned, trying to puzzle out this next clue. There wasn’t much that he could decipher as far as a location was concerned, but he knew that he was looking for the Rooster next. It was the next animal in the Chinese Zodiac after the monkey and the only animal associated with the early morning.

He left the shrine and regrouped at a table outside a cafe where he had a cup of afternoon tea. He was glad he’d brought his laptop along. Since there wasn’t a large indicator that the general area for the next location had changed, Saguru figured that his next clue was still in Taitou Ward. The early riser comment made him narrow his search down to the eastern half of the ward. Some quick digging revealed that there was a local park and garden on the east end of Asakusabashi. Saguru made his way there immediately and found the next clue and a tiny carving of a rooster hidden in a patch of cockscomb flowers.

He spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening traveling around the various cities and wards in Tokyo searching and finding these little clues, until it was getting late and he decided that this next one would be the last one before calling it a night and would resume his search tomorrow. Saguru had found five of the Chinese Zodiac carvings so far: the monkey, rooster, dog, boar, and the rat.

The rat carving had been found in another shrine - Buddhist this time - in Minato Ward with a bouquet of violets and lilies at the base of a stone Buddha statue. 

 

“Congradulations! You’ve found Zi Shui Yang! Now can you find Chou Tu Yin? He can be found burning the midnight oil in the city where our childhood never rests. Follow the river and you might find him writing Japan’s next Gomera.

-K.K.”

 

Saguru frowned. All of these clues were vague in nature - obviously in case someone else stumbled upon them before Saguru, but this one was just strange. “The city where our childhood never rests.” What the hell did that mean? He looked up Gomera on his laptop, hoping that that would give him a clue. It didn’t. There were too many Gomera movies to narrow down a precise location in Tokyo, but it got him thinking about what Japanese children would consider part of their childhood. Monster movies and cartoons. The Narima Ward was considered the birthplace of anime and was home to many TV and movie studios. He decided to get on a train to Nerima and spent the ride trying to narrow down a more specific location. The river had to be an important part of the clue, but where and along what river? It wasn’t until he got off his train and saw a billboard from an overpass that he got his answer. Rainbow Bridge. It was Tokyo’s equivalent of America’s San Francisco Bridge, and was often destroyed in monster movies (Gomera included). It appeared in a number of animes as well.

Saguru made his way onto a connecting line to Minato Ward heading towards the bridge and Tokyo port where all of Tokyo’s rivers ended and merged with the ocean. He disembarked and headed towards the local harbor park where there were a number of cherry and peach blossom trees lining the walking paths. When Saguru reached a point where he could clearly see the bridge, he started to look among the peach blossom trees. Peach blossoms were considered a lucky flower for those born in the year of the Ox, and flowers seemed to be a part of the theme thus far. He’d found the little zodiac tokens either in or with a kind of flower that was considered lucky for the corresponding animal’s year.

Finally he found what he was looking for in the hollow of a large peach blossom tree next to a light pole and at the entrance of a park. He sighed with relief but felt slightly irritated with Kid. If he hadn’t noticed that billboard with the Rainbow Bridge on it and made the connection, he’d have been searching all over the wrong city ward. He removed the small and by now familiar shaped package that had a small clipping of a peach blossom branch attached to it and unwrapped the carving of an ox. He admired the detail of craftsmanship on the piece before reading the next clue.

 

“Congradulations! You found Chou Tu Yin! Half of your quest is now finished and so is the day. Yin Mu Yang will not expect you on her hour, but on Shen Jin Yang’s. She sees all from her perch keeping watch over the city at the place of many meetings. It’s late and you look tired. Better get some sleep, mon ami.

-K.K.”

 

Saguru stiffened a bit at the last comment before looking around. Had Kid been watching him all day as he gathered these little trinkets? Oh God, he hoped not. The flowers and little zodiac carvings now felt a little heavy in his bag and he felt a small blush rise to his cheeks. He’d openly admired the carvings and had even sniffed a few of the flowers. 

He was abruptly reminded of something his father had joked about early in the week concerning other little gifts he might expect to get from “his thief.” Flowers had been one of them, and right now he was carrying five different kinds of flowers and holding a sixth from Kid. Could Kid be…

Saguru banished the thought before it could fully form. No. The flowers were merely part of the clue for the scavenger hunt, like the wood carvings of the Chinese zodiac. It made sense to mark the clues in some way so that Saguru knew that he was on the right track. Flowers were known to stand for different things in different cultures and putting the right kind of flower with the right zodiac carving let Saguru know that the package was meant for him as part of the challenge. Nothing more. ...Right?

Feeling a little unnerved Saguru decided to call it a night and followed the message’s advice. He went home and to bed, but not before setting the six zodiac carvings he’d collected away in his desk drawer and placing their corresponding flowers in a small vase. They made for an odd looking bouquet, but Saguru was really trying not to think about any underlying and secondary meanings they might have.

 

KAITO

“ TWO HEIST NOTES?! ” Nakamori screeched through the bug that Kaito had placed under the inspector’s computer screen. “ Impossible! One of them must be a fake. ”  Kaito adjusted the volume on his headphones to hear more clearly, shifted position in the ventilation shaft, and picked up his screwdriver again.

“ Sir ,” one of his officers responded, “ they arrived in the same envelope. I’m told that Hakuba Saguru took a good look at them and claimed that both were real .”

“ Hakuba Saguru is not an officer of the law. WE are. Bring in the notes immediately. This has to be some kind of trick! Kid’s trying to get us to divide our forces so there will only be half as much security at the location of his real target. ”

“ But which –? ”

“ I haven’t seen the note yet, Matsushita, so I don’t know which two objects he’s claiming to steal or which one is the piece he actually wants! Note, now! ”

“ Yes sir! ”

Kaito grinned impishly as he set aside the screw driver. Then he cracked open his new box of teeny tiny explosives that were useful for opening up exits at convenient moments. He placed one on the vent and wriggled until he could reach his back pocket, where the remote-controlled timers were. A few minutes and some jerry-rigging later, Kaito was finished. He crawled back to where he’d come in, listening all the while to Nakamori-keibu, who’d just received the heist notes.

“ Why did Hakuba see these before I did, huh? ”

“ He came in to see Saiki-keiji about another case just as the mail was arriving. Hakuba-kun spotted the Kid doodle on the discarded packaging and expressed an interest in seeing what Kid wrote. The officers at the desk had just opened them and didn’t see a problem with it since he helps out at heists .”

“ Showing a civilian. They should know better.” There was silence for a while and then the sound of someone (probably Nakamori) pounding on something (probably his desk). “ What the hell does this mean?” There was a shuffle of footsteps as someone else entered the room.

“Nakamori-keibu,” another officer’s voice chimed in, “ I was, uh, at the front desk when the note came, and Hakuba-kun gave us a rundown about what he thought it meant.” The silence was so long that Kaito worried Nakamori was strangling the second officer, but then there was a loud sigh crackling close to the bug.

“ What did the boy wonder say about it? ” Nakamori finally asked with reluctance.

“ Here, I have the details written down. There are two objects in different buildings, a first for Kid, but the locations aren’t that far apart. The East Tokyo Museum is only three blocks east and two south of the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery. Hakuba said that, according to the notes, Kid is planning to steal both objects between 9 and 10pm on Friday. We’ll be able to track him going from one location to the other.”  There was the sound of papers being shuffled and possibly being placed on Nakamori’s desk. “ Those are the targets.”

“ One of these must be a decoy,”  Nakamori asserted, his die-hard enthusiasm starting to gain momentum again. “ It’s not April Fool’s, after all! We’re going to research the hell out of these two jewels, and then we’re going to split up security details accordingly! THIS TIME, we’re gonna get him!”

“This time!” The task force members echoed.

Kaito, by this time was out of the building and dressed as a rigid businessman, pulled off the headphones and switched off the feed.

That had been the last of the preparations he needed before heist day. Kaito would swear that Hakuba was sadistic: this heist (or heists, rather) had taken  weeks  to put together. He’d been so busy that he’d barely spared time to place the rest of Hakuba’s clues on day two of the scavenger hunt, and Kaito hadn’t even checked that Hakuba had actually collected the clues. Was it a risk to leave the clues in public unattended, given the secrecy of their meetings? Yes, but it was a calculated risk taken because he had no time. The two jewels he wanted for this heist were leaving their current exhibits  soon . However, the clues he’d created were hidden well and he had past experience with Hakuba’s admittedly significant powers of observation.

Now that heist prep was over, though, he could go back through the data saved on his cameras and see whether the detective had completed his challenge. Kaito collapsed into his computer chair when he got home, exhausted. He scrolled through and queued up the start of the saved video from Tokyo Tower, the first checkpoint for day two.

The “mon ami” bit was the giveaway for the location, since it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Kid knew about Hakuba’s attempt to complete the disguise challenge there in the persona of Benoit Renee. Yin Mu Yang ruled from 3-4:59am, and since Kid had promised to keep things legal (plus, he wouldn’t really be able to blend in with a crowd at 3 in the morning since the tower would be closed), the hunt began again at 3pm that day instead, Shen Jin Yang’s time. It would be interesting to see Hakuba’s reactions at each of the stations–

Kaito was asleep on his keyboard before the video finished loading.

He had a few days to catch up on sleep before the heist night, but it arrived before he felt properly rested again. Kaito cursed Hakuba under his breath as the officers began filing into the room and industriously cordoning off the area around the Azure Dragon. He’d known they would show up a few hours early, but hiding out here was going to ache after a while, not to mention get boring. The East Tokyo Museum was actually one of the hardest places he’d had to infiltrate, so he’d been reduced to arriving ungodly early and hiding out until 9pm. Even Suzuki’s Jirokichi’s locations were easier to get into. The old man’s shindigs drew a big enough crowd that slipping in was cake. Guests wouldn’t be allowed in the museum tonight, just officers, and with their smaller numbers everyone was working in teams of three, so it would be hard for Kaito to lure someone away and replace them. Did this museum have something to hide, or were they just overly paranoid? It would bare investigation at a later date.

Much later , he groaned as he wiggled his toes to get circulation back from sitting in the same position so long.  He was bored as hell and developing a headache. He would have carried out some payback, but Hakuba was stationed at the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery tonight, so he’d have to wait.  It was more than likely that Hakuba’s meeting note was there too, so Kaito couldn’t peek and get a head start on deciphering the message. The only upside was that Nakamori and half the Kid task force were also at the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery, so Kaito’s headache wouldn’t worsen from the excessive noise that a full task force with their enthusiastic leader would generate.

A nap would be heavenly but so, so dangerous. Kaito knew better, but the temptation was still there. When Nakamori had examined the exhibition hall after receiving the heist note, he had (loudly) commented upon the fact that the vents were in the floor here rather than conveniently placed on the ceiling for Kid to drop out of and surprise them.  Instead, Kaito had seen that there was a network of large criss-crossing pipes across the ceiling which had been put in place before the building was a museum.  Some of them were rather large and many of them were clustered together for the sanity of the repairmen who needed extension ladders to reach them up near the three-story-high ceiling.

Kaito was, of course, hiding on top of these clustered pipes sans the ladder. There were no cameras this high up, as they would have to be  very  zoomed in to see anything relevant happening on the exhibition floor. Also, the lighting fixtures that were suspended from the ceiling were bowl-shaped and faced down, so there was almost no illumination up here. Anyone looking up would be staring directly into the lights and wouldn’t be able to see into the shadows above the fixtures. The pipes were definitely strong enough to take his weight (he’d calculated it based on the material and diameter) so Kaito got to watch the task force set up and talk via radio to Unit 1 at Fujimoto-Nakano. If he hadn’t previously read their notes on strategies for this heist, he would have learned a lot about what plans and traps they’d devised this time.

So despite Nakamori’s optimism that Kid couldn’t come in from above to steal the jewel from this museum, Kaito was going to drop in anyway.

The reason he’d gone to such lengths to target these two jewels in particular - the Vermillion Bird, a ruby, and the Azure Dragon, a sapphire - was that they were two of a four-piece set representing the Four Symbols from Chinese constellations. By coincidence or the hands of fate, these two were in Japan at the same time and being displayed only a few blocks from each other. It was unfortunate that the owners of the two gems got along so poorly, otherwise the ruby and sapphire might have been displayed together and Kaito would  definitely  have gone for the ten-minute heist that Hakuba had suggested.

The source of the disagreement between owners came from the fact that a European family unfamiliar with the Four Symbols had acquired the Vermillion Bird three centuries ago and renamed it, to the horror of the other three Chinese owners. The foreign family had vaguely heard that the Vermillion Bird was supposed to represent fire, so they called the ruby the “Fire-Breathing Dragon”, thinking that “dragon” was more accurate than “bird” for something representing fire. They were unaware that, while European dragons were thought to breathe fire, Asian dragons generally did  not . There had been public disputes, accusations of an insult to national heritage, and name-calling, so having the Vermillion Bird in the same country as one of the other jewels was a rarity.

On that note, no one familiar with Chinese mythology actually called it the “Fire-Breathing Dragon”, and the owners didn’t know enough Japanese to know what was printed on the display’s label copy. The huge argument about the name of the “Fire-Breathing Dragon” was what had drawn Kaito’s attention to it in the first place, and he’d looked into its history after noting the name. Which brought him here, ready to steal the Vermillion Bird and one of its sister gems, the Azure Dragon.

That sounded exciting and all, but just sitting here, waiting for the heist to start, was torture.  Kaito tried every method to avoid boredom: counting backwards from 500 by 7s; planning for another, more magic-filled heist; mentally inventing a time machine that would just  get him to 9pm already ; and so on.

Finally,  finally , it was 8:58 by his watch, and Kaito looked at the task force officers who were crazy-intense tonight. They were overly aware that their leader and half their number were in another building and that if one of the notes was a ruse, they might be the only ones seeing action tonight. Not having a shot at Kid would make Nakamori grouchy, and  nobody  wanted to be the one a grouchy Nakamori took his frustration out on for being less than perfectly professional.

His watch turned to 9:00. Thank  goodness .

Kaito removed his black clothing and double checked that his supply of retractable line (nearly transparent and designed for magicians) was secure around the two particularly sturdy pipes and attached to his belt. The task force officers, having formed a large circle around the case where the Azure Dragon was being displayed, didn’t notice the figure in white slowly sink down from above until his shadow was cast around by the dozens of lights.

Good thing kaitou were quick. Kaito tossed a handful of smoke bombs, released a couple of blow-up dummies into the mix of people, and went to town on the lock for the case. Like the museum’s surveillance system, this was a few levels higher than the average high-security that Kaito encountered during his occupation. He really should see what they were up to eventually, but with the clock ticking and another heist to complete before 10, he was on a tight schedule.

Ooh, that reminded him. Kaito reached into his inside pocket and pressed a few buttons to start some trouble over in the other building. He’d set up a few tricks to make it look like Kid was there. A few strange sounds, an electrical failure, a couple vents falling open with a scrap of white cloth caught in the grate, typical stuff that could happen if he was over there. There was a fan that he’d timed to turn on for a few seconds every five minutes that would make a white sheet billow, and anyone thinking that it was Kaitou Kid’s cape was in for a messy surprise when they got to what he liked to call the “glitter glue trap”. Not an original name, but it got the point across pretty well.

There were no electrical problems here (pre-recorded feed to the security cameras aside), but the smoke was clearing up quickly, so Kaito cut the two lines to the pipes after snatching the jewel and made for the room’s exit to the rest of the museum. He pulled out a spray can, a new method he’d developed for dispensing sleeping gas at close range, and held his breath. The two guarding the main door staggered before slumping to the floor. Kaito leapt over them and kept going. A few of the more alert task force officers had followed him from the main room and Kaito lost most of them in the maze of halls and twisty exhibits that connected in weird ways and had large artifacts that one could take shelter behind.

The strange setup of the museum was due to the fact that it had started life with a totally different purpose (though Kaito’s sources hadn’t agreed about what that was). When it was made a museum, the new owners added onto the building several times until it reached its current size. Though the main exhibition room where Kaito had spent the last few hours had a three-story tall ceiling, the later portions of the building had standardized height measurements like regular buildings.

On the fourth floor Kaito was faced with the museum’s strangely tight security once again. None of the windows opened.  None of them . Wasn’t that some kind of fire safety hazard? He’d wanted his exit to draw as little attention as possible, because if they still thought he was bouncing around the building, they wouldn’t think to look for him en route to the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery.

A pair of footsteps sounded a few meters to his left. On instinct, Kaito sprayed pink gas in the direction of the sound and caught the task force officer as she began to fall. Kaito spotted her radio and took the opportunity to unhook it from her belt and clip it to his own. With a quick “I’ll return it sometime,” to the now unconscious woman, Kaito went back to escaping. Finally managing to pop the glass out from the closest window, he pushed the release for the glider and hopped out.

The next tall structure was only three buildings away, and Kaito didn’t even stop for a breath before racing to the other side. It would royally suck if the task force from the East Tokyo Museum spotted him. Getting into Fujimoto-Nakano undetected would be ten times harder with a train of police officers trailing behind him. Kaito recalled the route he planned to the second location.

He jumped off the building, his hand on the glider’s button but not pushing it yet..  Wait for it. Wait .

As he dropped, the radio crackled. “ SECOND UNIT, THIS IS NAKAMORI. GET OVER TO FUJIMOTO-NAKANO RIGHT NOW! SECURE THE OUTSIDE! WE’VE GOT TWO KIDS RUNNING AROUND HERE, I REPEAT, TWO KAITOU KIDS. THAT DAMN THIEF! THIEVES! WHATEVER!”

“What the  fuck?”  Kaito said, stomach suddenly dropping for reasons other than his current state of free fall.

He only had one set of distractions set up in the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery, and they were timed to seem like only one person was causing them.

Kaito snapped the glider open again when he was level with the second floor.  That was close , he thought. He held it open…  now , he retracted it and fell the last few feet to the empty alley. He hit the ground running, stripping down to a running tshirt and shorts, yanking on sweatpants, pasting on a mask, and positioning his long wig. The Kid clothes disappeared.

The disguise was for a female jogger, but what Kaito was doing couldn’t really be considered “jogging”. “Outright sprinting” was probably a closer description. If there was a copy-kaitou in the other building, things were undoubtedly about to go sideways.

And Hakuba was going to think that Kid had backed down from the claim that he wouldn’t use an assistant to steal both gems. Kaito cursed as he slowed down and speed-walked into the hotel next to Fujimoto-Nakano. He waved at the concierge and took the first empty elevator. A previous trip to the hotel in preparation for tonight had yielded the key that allowed him passage to the roof.  It was dark up there, but that suited Kaito nicely.

Fujimoto-Nakano was only a stone’s throw from the hotel - or, more relevantly, only a smoke bomb’s throw away from the hotel.  There were fewer officers than he’d initially expected on the roof, but that made sense.  With Kaito’s series of distractions stringing together to make up the shadow of one “Kid” and a copy-kaitou running around, and with only half the task force currently present, Nakamori’s priorities were no longer on guarding places that had been picked as potential entrance points.

Three smoke bombs was probably excessive, but once Kaito was on the correct roof, he removed the batteries from all of the police radios so Nakamori wouldn’t be alerted to the presence of a third Kid (as amusing as his reaction would be). Then he held on his gas mask and threw pods filled with sleeping gas. He darted to the door in the confusion. The lock was child’s play.

Halfway down the set of stairs from the roof, Kaito debated whether to target the fake Kid or the gem first. If he went for the copy-kaitou, there was a chance the task force would regroup and make it impossible for Kaito to get tonight’s second jewel, thus ruining the heist and causing him to fail Hakuba’s challenge. If he went for the jewel, the copy-kaitou could surprise Kaito during his escape and increase the chances of Kid being caught.

Another factor came to mind that made his hands shake: if the copy-kaitou were to get the jewel first, they would get Hakuba’s note too. That was dangerous for both Kid’s sake and Hakuba’s sake. Kaito imagined possible scenarios that could follow if that happened, and he wanted to throw up. The thief could leave the note with the police. They could attempt to blackmail Kid or Hakuba, or both. They could publish it and bring the dark organization down on Hakuba if Snake thought the detective was meeting with Kid about Pandora. So many things could go wrong.

The jewel was the first priority, then. Kaito sent a brief apology up to his father for not making Kid’s name the most important, but he thought his dad would understand.

Now on the correct floor but on the wrong end of the enormous building, Kaito abandoned the stairwell and glided down the dark hall. Ah, on this half of the building he’d set up a couple sleeping-gas traps. Gas mask back on, then. Peeking into one room, he saw a pair of officers resting peacefully on the carpeted floor, pink gas already dispersed. One of them had handcuffs attached to his belt, just begging to be nicked. Kaito unhooked the cuffs, intending to return them to Nakamori tonight (while they were still in use on the pesky copy-kaitou). “Sorry about that,” Kaito murmured as he shut the door, tipped his hat– 

And ran straight into a figure in white. Kaito jumped back, on the defensive, as the other person stumbled back too. Kaito hadn’t even heard the stranger coming. “Oh.” he said as he got a look at the fake Kid. The costume was higher-end for an amateur, better than most of the cosplays he saw, but not the best imitation. The body type - wide hips, slim legs, and, uh, the chest area - suggested that this was a woman.

The copy-kaitou tipped their top hat back. “Oh yourself. What are you doing  here? ” The voice was female, which confirmed his quick guess, though he wasn’t completely ruling out the possibility of a man either. Kaito could change his voice and pass as a woman easily, and it wasn’t impossible to think that someone else could do the same.

“This happens to be my heist,” Kaito replied reasonably. “I even sent a note saying that I’d be coming.”

“But I heard you were at the East Tokyo Museum before and it’s not even 9:30 now.”

Kaito smiled briefly. “I like to show off sometimes, make things quick. What are  you  doing here?” Before she could answer, he continued, “If you’re a fan, get out of costume right now and I’m sure you can smooth over the confusion with Nakamori-keibu. He knows that fans attend heists whether the police want them there or not. If you’re another thief,” and here some irritation began to slip into his tone, “also get out of my uniform right now. I don’t need or want a partner.”

“What the hell, Kid?” She planted her hands on her hips, mildly annoyed but not angry yet. “We’re both thieves. What’s the problem here? I’m here to steal something, you’re here to steal something. Do you not like other people wearing white?”

“That’s right,” Kaito replied, taking a few steps closer until they were practically nose to nose. “It’s none of my business if you gallivant about and take things at night for money or thrills. When you don  my  costume and take on  my  name, though, then you make it my business.”

“It’s just a name. I could send in a heist note and wear a monocle and top hat to steal stuff if I wanted to.”

Kid’s crocodile grin appeared, but to her credit, she didn’t flinch. “Not if you don’t want to become the center of my attention, you wouldn’t. You know my reputation. I steal art from the highest security facilities on a regular basis. Do you think that I couldn’t figure out exactly who you are and make your life utterly miserable?” He paused for a long moment to let that sink in. “I don’t want to do that because it’s rude and it’s more trouble than I’d like to go to, but I  could . Alternatively, we can resolve this peacefully and I can point you in the direction of other trustworthy thieves who would love a young partner such as yourself. My condition is that you henceforth refrain from pretending to be me.”

She looked genuinely surprised and dropped the affected attitude. “Thanks, but I’m not looking for a partner either,” she replied.

“Will you cease posing as me?”

“No. Sorry, but no. I’m a  huge  fan of yours as well as being a thief, but I can’t. The chaos that your heists generate is the perfect environment, though I’m discovering that the hectic police presence is as much a disadvantage as it is a benefit.” She chuckled.

“I’m sorry it had to come to this, dear.” Before Kaito could make a move, though, she did the smart thing and started to run back the way she’d come. Kaito was a breath behind her, following her into a circular space that split off into half a dozen hallways going in every direction. A dramatically posed marble figure stood in the center of the room. The woman was fast, but Kaito was motivated and caught up in a heartbeat. He clasped her wrists and twisted them behind her back.

“Hey!” Kaito clicked the cuffs around her wrists. “Let me go!”  She struggled violently with the handcuffs, leaving marks that would bleed if she kept it up. Kaito’s eyebrows lifted slightly: it was clear from her reaction that she’d never been cuffed before. Still cutting her teeth on a new profession, maybe? Kaito hadn’t been like this when he started because of his extensive history with handcuffs and other stage magic props. The copy-kaitou may have been a thief, but she was no magician.

“Now, what to do with you? I can’t very well drag you around like this, since I’ve got a heist to finish.” She lifted a leg to kick him but he casually grabbed her ankle, which forced her to scramble for balance on one foot. He looked up at the statue. “Ah! That gives me an idea.” With the hand not holding her ankle, Kaito dipped into his pockets and withdrew a roll of duct tape. He never left for a heist without duct tape. He tugged on her and upset her balance, lowering her to the floor face-down without injury. Kaito quickly bound her ankles with the tape. She was still struggling but she’d wisely stopped shouting, still looking to escape before anyone from the task force showed up here.

In a stroke of genius, Kaito took out the bottle of ink that he’d been planning to dump on an unsuspecting task force officer and poured some on her hands.  He’d also been planning to leave a teasing note for Nakamori in the spot where the Vermillion Bird ruby usually sat, but instead he pressed the back of the paper to her right thumb, then the left one, and then each of her index fingers in turn.  He blew on the paper until the ink dried, pleased with how the fingerprints had turned out despite her squirming, and slid the note back into his jacket.

Kaito carried her over to the statue and set her upright with her back to the marble. The duct tape screeched ominously as Kaito pulled more loose from the roll.  Starting at her stomach, he ran the tape around both her and the statue a few dozen times, ignoring her cries of “I  am  a fan, Kid”, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?”, and “C’mon, I don’t want to get caught!”

“My apologies,” Kaito offered when he was done. “You can probably still get off the hook with the task force if you say you’re a fan, not a thief, and that I tied you up before you could explain it to me. Say you’re very sorry about the confusion before and that you didn’t mean to make the task force mistake you for me. As a fan, you just wanted to see me. I wouldn’t pretend to be me again if I were you, though. They’re not going to buy that excuse a second time, and now I have your fingerprints.”

“I won’t forget this,” she declared with a sullen pout.

“I should hope not,” Kaito smiled. “It’s not everyday one gets to meet their idol.” He knew that wasn’t what she meant, but he tipped his hat to her and swept away towards the center of the current fuss, the Vermillion Bird.

 

SAGURU

Saguru sighed exasperatedly as he left the heist scene. This was going to be the first and last time he ever challenged Kid to perform two heists on the same night and he prayed that Kid wouldn’t ever attempt to do so again (at least while he was still in the country). The kaitou had just managed to snatch the Vermillion Bird a quarter of an hour before 10 o’clock and made his escape with five minutes to spare, completing his challenge successfully. During the initial clean up of the chaotic heist, however, the Task Force had to deal with a copycat Kid that the original appeared to have apprehend.

The young woman was embarrassed and looked very scared when Nakamori went into a full on rant, telling her off as he did with all of the Kid fans that had managed to sneak into a heist site. Suitably subdued, the girl was issued a stern warning and was allowed to leave. She practically flew out the gallery’s doors to escape from the irate inspector. Normally Saguru felt just a tiny bit sorry for the young woman and the occasional young man who landed themselves in this kind of position, but Saguru’s eyes had spotted the traces of ink on the girl’s fingers as she left. 

Kid had printed her. That fact alone put Saguru on edge even though the heists were well over and done with. Something about that girl wasn’t right. She was obviously not an accomplice like Saguru had initially thought in spite of the fact that Kid had said he’d perform his heists without assistance. Another indicator was the fact that Kid wouldn’t have restrained her the way he had if she was an accomplice. There was almost an... excessive feeling to it. The fake Kid had been handcuffed as well as duct-taped. She’d hardly been able to move when the Task Force had discovered her and there had definitely been fear in her gaze. Now that Saguru had time to think about it, it wasn’t the embarrassed fear that most civilians expressed when they found themselves apprehended by the police. No, it was much more than that. There was more to the fan girl than met the casual observer’s eye. Just what that was, exactly, Saguru wasn’t sure. He would have to ask Kid about her at their meeting.

Speaking of the meeting, he was running a bit behind schedule. Dealing with that girl Kid imposter had delayed him in slipping away and out of clean up duty. Saguru was grateful that he’d picked a spot relatively nearby and could only hope that Kid was a smidge stumped at solving the clue in his note. He’d made it especially hard as revenge for making him race around the city on his second day of the scavenger hunt with the paranoid feeling that he was being watched the entire time. He’d managed to spot two cameras when trying to find the dragon and sheep zodiac animals, but hadn’t been able to find any at the other four sites. It still bugged him that he didn’t know if that was because there weren’t any cameras to be found at those sites or if Kid had hid them especially well and had other means of observing him while on his hunt.

With fifteen minutes left until the appointed meeting time he’d set, Saguru reached the rooftop of the Tokyo Imperial Hotel five miles from the heist sites. His usual seating arrangements were already set up from his visit early in the afternoon and all he had left to do was set out the food he’d stowed away in a cooler waiting under the table on the roof. He quickly set the dishes up as well as the collection of zodiac carvings he’d found on his scavenger hunt.

When he was finished with the set up he sat down and relaxed a bit, checking his pocket watch for the time. 3.48 minutes to spare. Nodding to himself, Saguru clicked his watch shut and closed his eyes, counting down the time left. Kid always showed up right at the appointed time and never made a move until Saguru’s attention was off wherever it was that he wished to appear. The moment his internal timer counted down to zero he opened his eyes and there the infuriating thief was, taking a sip of what was undoubtedly hot chocolate from the cup at his place setting.

“Sleeping on the job, Tantei-san?” Kid smirked.

“Not quite,” Saguru shrugged. “I’m not on the clock so even if I was about to fall asleep, it wouldn’t be on the job.”

“If you say so,” Kid snickered.

“You had fun, I trust?” Saguru huffed, pouring himself a cup of tea and taking a sip to hide a smile of his own. “Pity that your accomplice seems to have given you trouble. You nearly didn’t complete your challenge and you got a little sloppy with your get away, even if the task force became preoccupied once they discovered her.”

Kid bristled at that. “Accomplice? You think I went back on my word?”

Saguru shrugged. “The challenge I gave you certainly was a daunting one. I can’t say I blame you for needing help to pull it off.”

Kid narrowed his eyes and looked very much like one of his birds with their feathers ruffled in irritation. Saguru couldn’t contain a chuckle, shaking his head. It was certainly something to see the usually unflappable Kid looking so disgruntled. At Kid’s sudden quirk of an eyebrow, Saguru laughed.

“Relax. I said that in jest, Kid. I know very well that she was not your accomplice. The fact that you bound her the way you did and left her for the police to deal with was proof enough.”

Kid leveled an unamused and unimpressed look at him, but Saguru merely smiled back and took a sip of his tea.

“Games aside, Kid, shall we move on to the business at hand? You’ve won your challenge, and as you can see,” Saguru gestured to the collection of the chinese zodiac carvings, “I have completed mine. As an apology of sorts for my poor humor, you may ask your question first.”

"I'm afraid I don't have a good question prepared. Between planning  two heists, your scavenger hunt, and managing my civilian life, I've kept pretty busy since last we met." Kid folded his hands together and leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful air, thinking for three minutes and 24.5 seconds. "Alright. I have a hypothetical scenario for you. A mental exercise, if you will. I'm curious as to what you would do. If there was a crime ring who had influence within the police – don't get offended, this is just a hypothetical puzzle – how would you solve a murder committed by them? How would you bring them to justice, I mean? I want to know how you'd operate with limitations."

Well that was an odd thing to ask, but unfortunately the scenario Kid asked about was not unrealistic. Far from it. He knew that there were corrupted officials in the judicial system and that not every cop was good. He’d dealt with a few bad officers back in Europe as a matter of fact.

Saguru pondered the scenario Kid posed to him and stared into his tea, organizing his thoughts before answering.

“What you posed in your scenario is more common that anyone in law enforcement would like to admit,” Saguru said, his mouth forming a grim slash. “Most organized crime rings such as drug cartels, mafias, and gangs tend to have an inside man or woman in law enforcement or at least someone who knows the right officer or someone who consults with the police and are able to get the necessary information their organization needs to continue conducting business under the radar. 

“As for how I would solve a murder committed by such an organization… I would treat the initial case of the murder as I would any other, but one of the additional steps would be to find out who the dirty cop is, if I am aware that there is one. Unfortunately it’s hard to answer your question further without more specifics. How I would proceed afterwards all depends on who the dirty cop is; what rank they hold and their reason for associating with the crime ring. Then there is the possibility that they are not the only dirty cop working for the organization and it becomes a question of how widespread the corruption is. 

“In the worst case scenario – and by worst I mean that there are a great number of dirty or coerced cops within the police department of various ranks… I would have to reevaluate the case, maybe even the entire murder. Rerun and double check every forensics test, the autopsy, witness statements, the works. I would trust few to no officers in that department on the off chance those who are corrupt catch on to the fact that I am on to them. But no one can do anything alone. I can gather all the intelligence and all the evidence I need, but one person can’t take down an army. I would need to outsource help from either other police departments or another organization on the whole such as MI6.”

“...You sound as if you’ve had to do this before,” Kid mused.

“Once,” Saguru admitted, “It was my first big case and it happened about a year before I came to Japan. I was fifteen. It turned out that at least a third of the officers I worked with in the Yard were working one way or another for a local drug cartel. Most of the officers were of the lower to middle class, some fresh out of college with student loans to pay and others with families they were struggling to support and various bills to pay. Crime rings like that seek out and find officers like them. Those they can exploit. One officer in particular was a single father with a very sick daughter. She had leukemia and he was struggling to find the money to pay for her treatments. The drug cartel promised to cover her bills if he looked the other way and let some of their dealers run their business during his patrol shift.”

“How’d you handle it?” Kid asked.

“I managed to get the officer I just told you about to flip on the cartel,” Saguru frowned. “It was through him that I learned the extent of the corruption within the department. I happen to have some colleagues that work in or with other government organizations, so once I realized what I was dealing with, I called an acquaintance of mine that works for the British government and she made arrangements for me to meet with some agents from MI6. Together we managed to root out the corrupt officers from the innocent and bring the cartel down. By some miracle the press didn’t manage to learn of the whole story and only reported on the take down of the cartel. That’s MI6 for you though, I suppose.”

“What happened to the officer with the sick daughter?” Kid asked.

“For his confession and cooperation he got a reduced sentence and is spending his second of five years in prison, but his case is up for review and he has a chance at parole coming up in March,” Saguru smiled. “His daughter on the other hand is well and living in the country with her grandparents, waiting for her dad to come home. If that cartel did anything good, it was provide her with the money for the treatments she needed to become well again.”

Kid nodded, smiling a bit as well.

Taking that as a sign that he’d sufficiently answered Kid’s question, Saguru posed his own.

“Alright, my turn for a question. What is it about stealing that motivates you to keep doing it?” he asked.

Kid's razor smile appeared. "I haven't found what I want yet, and what I want is worth the trouble. Ask a different question."

Hakuba mentally shrugged. He hadn’t really expected Kid to answer that rather straightforward question, but was happy that Kid had at least given him an answer – even if it was one that didn’t provide him with any new information – instead of just telling him the usual line, “You’re the detective here, figure it out.” That and the fact that he was allowing Saguru to ask a different question was a sign that these meetings were going somewhere and that he was making some progress in his attempt to learn more about the thief.

“Alright then,” he said, moving on to a backup question he’d prepared in advance, “what aspects of your heists do you enjoy the most ?”

"Ah,” Kid grinned, looking delighted by the question. “The adrenaline of heist night is like nothing else in the world, but I'd say that puzzling out which magic tricks to use for a particular target and venue is always an adventure too. It's tied."

“Are you a professional magician outside of your heists, then?”

“That’s not something I’m prepared to answer, but thanks for playing,” Kid answered with a wink. Hakuba blinked as his mind caught up. The question had just slipped out, like he’d forgotten he was talking to a criminal who was going to be cagey about his real life. With good reason.

“Sorry.”

Kid shook off the apology with a grin. “Can’t take the curiosity out of a detective. Now, about this next challenge…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MG: Apologies for the long wait between chapters again! But now we have someone new and interesting on the scene: a copy-kaitou (*cue dramatic music*). Perhaps she'll appear again to make trouble for Kaito...
> 
> SR: Ugh! This should have been out back in December (obviously, because this takes place before the winter holidays)! Sorry guys. :( Blame me for the hold up. Reality can be a real drag and was getting in the way. I love that that we're FINALLY moving into the romance portion of this fic though, and that both our boys are in denial! May the shenanigans (though there have already been many) begin! I also look forward to seeing what becomes of our lovely copy-kaitou. I know we have ideas, but it'll be fun to develop her character as she pops up again. :)
> 
> MG: Yeah, working on her will be interesting! Also, the long wait between chapters was partly my fault too.
> 
> SR: Yeah... Lets all hope the next chapter won't take as long! Thanks for reading, we hope the extra length of this one makes up for the slow update, and we'd be really happy and grateful if you'd leave us a review! :)


	10. The Travel Challenge (Part 3)

KAITO

Kaito hummed the opening tune of a popular anime as the copier whirred.  Getting out of the house was a good idea.  The gloomy weather was keeping the whole city inside, so he’d been stuck indoors either in school or at home for weeks.  He was going a little stir-crazy, and it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Around him the police station bustled with movement.  He was currently in disguise as a fictitious junior officer, someone who was expected to fetch coffee and do the copying and keep his head down.  If he looked like he was busy most people wouldn’t question his presence even if they’d never seen him before.

The copier spit out another old arrest warrant for “Phantom Thief 1412” and Kaito grinned.  It would have been easier just to hack the police’s computer files and print the digital records from home, but handling the original paper documents and personally making copies at the station was much more satisfying.  He was going to frame them, all of them, and hang them in the Kid room.  Division Two had accumulated a binder full of arrest warrants from several dozen countries during his father’s time as Kid, and Kaito himself had a half-dozen of his own for property damage, breaking-and-entering, grand larceny, identity theft, impersonating an officer of the law, setting off fireworks illegally, etc., etc. in different prefectures.

“Did someone come in to fix the copier?  I was having trouble with it earlier.”

Kaito’s eyebrows jumped up and he spun around a little faster than could be considered casual.  He recognized that voice.  “Ah, Hakuba-kun.”  What was he doing here  now?  “Good morning.”

“Good morning.”  Hakuba gestured to the machine.  “I tried an hour ago and it started beeping ominously.  Saiki-keiji opened it up and tried to fix the problem, but with no avail.  He filed a request to have it repaired, but I see you’ve fixed it.”

Kaito smiled, overly cheerful.  “Oh, nothing big. I just applied some percussive maintenance and it was fine.”  Truthfully, he’d jerry-rigged it with the tools from his kit.  “Maybe leave Saiki-san’s request in until we can figure out if it will  stay fixed.”

“That’s reasonable, ah –” Hakuba frowned.  “I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve only been here a couple months. I’m Murayama Shou, pleased to meet you.”

Hakuba blinked.  “Likewise.  I thought I’d met everyone in Division Two by now.”

“Oh, I’ve been around, probably just on different tasks than you.”

“I see.”  Hakuba didn’t sound quite convinced.

Kaito changed the subject.  “What brings you to the station this early on a Saturday?  Has there been a new Kid note?”

“No, nothing.  In fact, it’s been a suspiciously long time since his last heist.  I’m worried that he’s working on something big.”

Wouldn’t you like to know?  Kaito thought.  “We’ll get him this time for sure!”

“I hope so.”

“So if not a heist note, are you here on another case?”

“Yes.  It’s officially closed, but it’s of personal interest to me.”  Hakuba’s eyes drifted to the copier as another Kid warrant slid out.  “I wanted to look over the details myself.”

“Sounds interesting.  Is that what you needed the copier for?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the case?”

“Oh, it’s nothing big,” Hakuba assured him.  “Just a detail that didn’t make sense.”

That evasion set off alarm bells in Kaito’s head.  “Do you want a hand?  I’m not implying that you  need help, but if you want it…”  What was he saying?  Murayama Shou didn’t even exist, and if Hakuba cited him as being helpful after the case was wrapped up, someone would figure out that there was no officer by that name and suspicion would be cast on Murayama’s efforts to help.

“I’d like to keep this quiet in case I’m wrong.”

“I can be discreet.”

Hakuba let out a breath.  “You remember the Vermillion Bird and Azure Dragon heist?”

“How could I forget it?  The brat waltzed through like it was a two-for-one sale.”  Kaito made the appropriate huffing sounds that a task force officer should, and privately grinned.

“There was a rumor of a second Kid running around, but the officers ultimately determined that it was another rabid fan.”

“Is that what happened?” he asked.  “Didn’t see it myself, since I was stationed at the other building.”

“I noticed on the way out the door that there was ink on the person’s hands.  Today I want to look at the statement given – since I wasn’t around when the officers found the suspect – and maybe get a name.”

“You think Kid did it on purpose, all those things?  That might mean the person isn’t a fan.”

Hakuba frowned.  “Yes, that was my line of thinking, but how did you get there?”

“I’m a detective too, Hakuba-kun,” Kaito admonished.  “You think Kid wanted the fan’s prints for something.  The logical jump from there is that he needs that person’s fingerprints for a heist in the future – which we can check by seeing if they work someplace that has access to expensive rocks – or that he wants to look up the fan’s information for a more personal reason.  If it’s the latter, then the likelihood is that we caught a copy kaitou and let them go.”

“It would be unfortunate if anyone outside the police got wind of that theory, which is why I wanted to look into it quietly.”

Nice.  Running the copy kaitou’s prints would be fairly straight-forward for Kaito, but reading the official interview from the heist, which had all her identification info, would be easier and much less traceable.  Kaito followed the detective to one of the record rooms, slipping part six of the files on Kaitou Kid back into its place.

“Right, then, Hakuba-kun.  Does this potential lady kaitou have a name?”

Drawer open, Hakuba paused.  It stretched from a short silence and moved into the territory of uncomfortable.  Kaito remembered to fidget like his character would.  “Murayama-keiji, you said you didn’t know about what happened at the Fujimoto-Nakano, but I don’t remember mentioning that the second Kid was a woman.”

Kaito’s heartbeat jumped and he internally cursed.  “Yes you did.  Right at the beginning.  You said that the suspect turned out to be another rabid fangirl.”

“Did I?”  No gender had been specified, actually, but Kaito liked the Murayama Shou disguise and wanted to use it again.

“Yes, I’m sure of it.”  He projected confidence into his voice and reached over to take the appropriate folder, peeking in at her name.  Mikami Nariko.  Cute.

He looked up from the file to see Hakuba looking at him strangely.  Ah.  Time to go, then.

Days later, Kaito still wondered what Hakuba thought about Murayama’s excuse to escape the records room, but he wasn’t going to ask tonight - not because he was trying to preserve the fiction of Murayama Shou, Division Two detective, but because he happened to be distracted by other things at the moment.  Kaito would’ve gotten his mouth washed out with soap if his mother knew what he was thinking.  The last time Snake’s assassins had appeared at a heist, they caught the tail end of it – probably due to some confusion surrounding the time in his heist note – but this time they were already in position when Kaito set up for the evening.  The dark organization was definitely interested in this one.  They’d been mysteriously absent for months, and Kaito had let his vigilance slip, but they were back with guns blazing.

Literally speaking.

As Kaito veered to avoid another perfectly selected assassination spot set up right along one of his escape routes, he realized that they might have hired someone who knew magicians, and if that was the case, the person was good.  Interesting. It meant that Kid had moved higher up on the “pest” rung.  That was both good and bad for obvious reasons: on one hand, he might be getting close if his intelligence on gems was lining up with theirs, but then there was the obvious drawback of being an even bigger target.  It was really only a matter of time before one of them got in a good shot.

No, his palms weren’t sweating on the bars of the glider.  Nope.

His heart skipped as another crack echoed above the sound of the chaotic police scene below.  There was a chilling  riiip as the bullet passed through the canvas of the glider.  Not good, but not being dead was a plus.  Kaito made a snap decision: if the assassins were positioned to shoot at a target in the air, then they were probably high up and may not have considered possible obstructions between their scopes and the ground.  Who thought about the positions of telephone poles and trees when the target was jumping off an even taller building?  Kaito jerked the glider mechanism to a dangerous angle and dropped like, well, anything falling from thirty stories high.  The wind whipped across his face in a frenzy and Kaito thanked Lady Luck for the thousandth time that he wasn’t afraid of heights.

If he landed somewhere that was mostly concealed and then snuck away, the sniper might think they got him.  He replayed the last minute in his head: yes, his reaction had been fast enough to be believable.  The snipers in earshot would have heard the bullet and then witnessed his immediate nose dive.  It wouldn’t keep him off the radar for long, just until the next heist was announced, but he could slip away from them tonight.  The maybe-magician that Snake’s people potentially had could pose additional problems – as heists continued they could tailor their predictions according to each new site and Kid’s past behavior...

No.  Kaito shook his head.  The police had been chasing Kid for over a decade.  Kid was a publically known figure and no magicians had come forward claiming to be able to predict him with accuracy.  The only one who’d any sort of success on that front was –

Hakuba.  

Kaito’s heart dropped again, but not for himself this time.  If the organization had a good magician leading the snipers, he or she would know some of Kaito’s tricks to divert attention.  Kaito used those tricks to get away and to make sure no one was following him on his way home or, more recently, to his post-heist meetings  with Hakuba .

Hakuba, who hadn’t signed up for this kind of danger.  Hakuba, whose safety was important to both Kid and Kaito.  Hakuba, who currently had no reason to be in Snake’s scopes.  Kaito’s blood ran cold as he recalled a worry from the two-gem heist: if the dark organization uncovered his meetings with the detective, they might jump to the conclusion that Kid was secretly working with the police.

No.  That wouldn’t happen.  Kaito wouldn’t  let it happen.

Kaito finally focused on the ground and oh  shit , a lamppost.  It was still ten stories down, but it was right in his current trajectory.  Move a little bit… Right, okay, if the snipers were along the obvious escape routes, then he’d just have to default to something further down his list.

Still trying to look unsteady, Kaito tugged the damaged glider sharply and aimed for the roof of a one-story convenience store.  The buildings on either side of it were tall enough that it was unlikely that his landing would be spotted.  At the last moment he pulled up and felt his shoes skim the roof before snapping the glider closed.

He looked up to scan the dark windows of the corporate offices next to the convenience store.  There was a flutter of movement in one of the windows and Kaito bolted, hastily changing into something dark after he hit the ground.  He ran for two blocks and changed his disguise again in the restrooms of a small cinema, applying stage makeup and straightening a nondescript lady’s wig.

Kaito left from a different exit and let out a shaky breath.  It was possible that this malevolent magician was all in his mind and Snake was just really on point tonight, but it was still an unsettling idea.  His hands twitched for a deck of cards to shuffle.

Maybe he shouldn’t meet with Hakuba tonight.

The thought swept through his mind like a breeze and latched on, forcing him to consider the pros and cons.  On one hand, it would interrupt their regular routine, which was annoying both because he looked forward to the challenges and because it would probably cause Hakuba to look deeper into the situation.  That was not a desirable outcome.  On the other hand, though, the potential for assassination attempts was much higher than it had been during the other nights that they’d met.

There was no real guarantee that Kaito was being followed.  But there was also no assurance that he  wasn’t .  If he went to their meeting he would, in some sense, be betraying Hakuba’s trust – their agreement was for a safe environment where they could exchange challenges.  However, standing him up could also hurt the trust developing between them.

Shit, why was he even  thinking about this?  The only correct answer was obvious: they’d have to wait until next heist to meet.  Kaito could make up a reasonable excuse for Hakuba.

He didn’t want to leave Hakuba out there without some kind of explanation, though.  One, it would only take one glimpse of a sniper to get Hakuba’s detective senses tingling, and two, Kid never reneged on his appointments without notice.  Kaito couldn’t exactly text Hakuba from his own phone, but calling from a payphone would work.  He roamed the streets with purpose for a few blocks until he spotted one and enclosed himself in the booth.

As the phone clicked, he cleared his throat and spoke with Kid’s voice.  “What a  lively evening it is, my Mad Hatter.”  There was a sharp breath from Hakuba’s end.  “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“What’s going on?”

“Oh nothing much,” Kaito lied lightly, eyes still scanning the area for potential surveillance by Snake’s organization.  “It’s just a slight annoyance that will prevent me from keeping our appointment this evening.  I figured it would be only reasonable to let you know so you didn’t wait up.”

There was a pause.  “I appreciate the consideration.”   Kaito heard sirens in the background and loud chatter, so Hakuba was probably still at the heist site.

“Well, my benevolence knows no bounds.”

Hakuba snorted.  “Oh, please.”

“Goodnight, Tantei-san.  Until next time.”  Kaito hung up.

 

SAGURU

In spite of his unease and concern after the most recent Kid heist, Saguru couldn’t help but look on in amusement as Kuroba chased Akako and little Kyou around a local neighborhood playground. It had been a while since any of them had visited the little girl from Ueno, but today had been a half-day at school. Kuroba had announced that he was making the trip when they were packing up their schoolbooks and asked Saguru if he wanted to tag along. Saguru had been surprised by the invitation, especially when Akako was also (reluctantly) asked to come. They accepted. Kyou had probably asked Kuroba if all three could visit, and Saguru figured that this trip would be a good opportunity to keep an eye on Kuroba, who had been a little… twitchy since Kid’s heist that weekend. Besides, the three of them hadn’t visited Kyou together since that first time back in October.

In fact, Saguru hadn’t seen little Kyou since Valentine's Day, which had been almost a month ago. He’d brought a plateful of baked goods to share with his class and when Kuroba found out that he was bringing another plateful of extras over to the Yamaguchis’ apartment after school, he’d tagged along. Kyou had greeted the two of them with goodies of her own that she’d made with help from her aunt, Yamaguchi Mikasa.

Saguru had been glad to see that Kyou’s father, Yamaguchi Ryouichi, had been up and about at home rather than in a hospital bed. Whatever Akako had done with the herbs and roots and other supplies, it had worked. Mr. Yamaguchi’s recovery hadn’t been a speedy one, but it had been a constantly progressive one, allowing him to come home just in time for Christmas. Now the father, daughter, and aunt all lived together in a three-bedroom apartment situated above Miss Yamaguchi’s apothecary in traditional downtown Ueno. When Akako had learned of the store, she’d taken to visiting it regularly for supplies and even volunteered herself (and occasionally Saguru) to help out from time to time.

It was while helping mind the store that Saguru learned that Miss Yamaguchi had been a childhood friend of Kyou’s mother – Yamaguchi-Kimura Momoru – and that they had opened the shop together after graduating from high school with help from the Kimura family. According to Akako, the Kimuras were a powerful and well-respected witching family in the Wiccan arts circles. Akako’s family practiced the darker Scarlet Arts, which was why she hadn’t recognized Kyou’s connection to the witching community at first. The Kimura family practiced nature and healing magics, hence the apothecary shop Miss Yamaguchi now ran by herself after the late Yamaguchi-Kimura Momoru had died in an accident. 

Today, Mr. Yamaguchi had been away at work and Miss Yamaguchi was minding her store with her niece when Saguru and his companions arrived and volunteered to take Kyou to play at the park. Kyou had been quiet and seemed melancholy on their way to the park, but quickly brightened when Kuroba tapped her on the shoulder and started a game of tag. Thinking fast, Kyou tagged Akako yelling “no tag backs!” With a shrug Akako joined in on the chase, determined to get Kuroba. The imp dodged neatly away, scrambling up the jungle gym, over the monkey bars and weaved through the swings to avoid the persistent witch. It took a team effort to catch him. Saguru allowed himself to be tagged by Akako when Kyou was stumbling up a slide and had Kuroba distracted. Akako continued to chase Kuroba towards Saguru, only to halt suddenly and change direction, causing Kuroba to slow in confusion. While his back was turned Saguru tagged him saying a quick “you’re it!” before darting quickly away in case of retaliation. 

Kyou and Akako had laughed at Kuroba’s stunned expression and Saguru had been both amused and a little worried to see a small touch of fear in Kuroba’s eyes when he realized what had just happened. It wasn’t an obvious reaction, but Saguru could see that Kuroba was rattled. He was too still. It wasn’t normal Kuroba behavior and that made Saguru worry. He may be putting up a good front playing with Kyou, but something had definitely been bothering the teen magician since the last Kid heist a few nights ago.

“No tag backs, Kuroba,” Saguru said mildly, jolting Kuroba out of his momentary stupor. Kuroba glared at him, but chased after the girls, both of them squealing in laughter and terror as they ran away.

Saguru chuckled uneasily, shaking his head before plopping down onto a nearby bench and massaged his left shoulder. He’d wrenched it at the Kid heist. It was still bothering him even a few days later. He still wasn’t sure what had happened, but some people said that there had been a gunman present trying to shoot Kid out of the sky. In the ensuing chaos Saguru had run afoul of a few… overzealous fans that thought that it was the police that were shooting at Kid. One had tackled Saguru and he’d had to wrestle him to the ground so that the officers near him could arrest the offending citizen.

“Are you okay?” Kyou asked as she ran up to him, a small pout creasing her brow. Kuroba and Akako were not far behind her.

Saguru smiled reassuringly. “It’s nothing, Kyou.”

“Your shoulder still bothering you?” Kuroba asked frowning.

“It twinges every now and then.”

Kuroba rolled his eyes and tossed something at his head. Saguru caught it and, after glaring at the other boy, saw that it was a tube of muscle rub. Saguru looked back up at Kaito, eyebrow raised.  “Works for me,” he explained, shrugging.

“Do you always carry this kind of thing around with you?” Saguru asked.

“I like to be prepared.”

“And you call me a boy scout.”  Kuroba didn’t respond.

Kyou giggled, climbing up onto the bench to sit beside Saguru with her little legs dangling.

“So, Kyou,” Kuroba began, to get the little girl’s attention. “What are you up to these days?”

“Not much,” she sighed, kicking her feet idly. “I help Mika-ba-chan with the store most of the time. Oh! But this weekend Akako-nee-chan and I are going shopping.”

Kuroba’s smile faltered a bit but not enough to be noticed by the girl. “Is that so? Looking to buy anything in particular?”

“White Day gifts of course!” Kyou said beaming.

“Oh? Why’s that?” 

Saguru was confused as well. As he understood it, in Japan it was tradition for girls to give chocolates and gifts to boys on Valentine's day, February 14, and on White Day, March 14, boys returned the favor, buying return gifts for the girls. It was considered bad form if a boy didn’t return a gift to a girl he’d accepted a gift from even if he didn’t reciprocate her feelings.

“For Saguru-nii-chan,” Kyou said, beaming up at the blond.

Saguru blinked in surprise. “You don’t have to,” he said. “I brought over cupcakes, not chocolates.”

“We do too!” Kyou protested, sticking her nose up into the air stubbornly, much like Akako did sometimes. “It’s tradition to return Valentine gifts. It would be bad luck not to.”  Saguru wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he just shrugged.  “And Kaito-nii-chan is getting one for Saguru-nii-chan too, right?” Kyou suddenly asked.

“I beg your pardon?” Saguru said at the same time Kuroba went, “Wuh?”

“Kaito-nii-chan had some of Saguru-nii-chan’s Valentine cakes too,” Kyou stated, “so he needs to get a White Day gift for Saguru-nii-chan. Do you want to go shopping with us, Kaito-nii-chan?”

“Ahh…” Kaito blanched, eyes darting over to Akako. “Thanks, Kyou, but… I’m afraid I have plans for this weekend already. Sorry. Maybe some other time.”

Kyou shrugged before bouncing off the bench, grabbed Akako’s hand, and headed towards the swings.  Kuroba sighed, taking Kyou’s spot next to Saguru on the bench.

“You don’t have to get me a White Day gift, Kuroba,” Saguru chuckled, watching the two girls swing. “In England, both boys and girls give each other Valentines, mostly because they want to, not because they expect anything in return. It’s true that it’s nice if confessions and feelings of love are reciprocated, but it’s mostly a day to let people know that someone cares about them. It’s not a big deal. Mostly my Mum and I just bake cakes and cookies and give them to friends and family. That’s  our tradition. I didn’t do it expecting anything in return.”

Kuroba didn’t say anything for a while. After a few minutes he said, “Are you going to use that cream or what? It’s not good to leave injuries like that alone. Could end up with muscle damage.” Then he got up and joined the girls.

Saguru stared after the other boy and watched them play for a few minutes. He was worried about Kuroba. Especially since he believed -  knew  \- that Kuroba was Kid. It hadn’t been documented on any of the official police reports - because after a thorough investigation it was found that none of the officers at the heist had drawn or discharged their firearms - but someone had taken a shot at Kid at the thief's latest heist. Something had spooked the kaitou so bad that he had called Hakuba from a payphone (he’d looked into it as soon as he’d gotten home that night) and canceled their usual post-heist meeting. And to top it off, Kuroba had been a little off these last few days at school. Sure, he put on a good front for everyone, but having known and interacted with both Kuroba and Kid for months now, Saguru was able to see the fissures and cracks in that damn poker face. Kuroba’s hands were always in motion; flexing around his pencil as he wrote, shuffling cards, or playing with various other magic paraphernalia. There was also the unnerving sense that Kuroba was watching him every time he wasn’t watching Kuroba. For some reason, Kuroba was keeping tabs on him. Even now, Saguru could swear that Kuroba was watching him out of the corner of his eye. Yes, something had the magician spooked all right.

This most recent heist wasn’t the first time there’d been reported suspicions and off-the-record whispers of a gunman on site at a heist (excluding an incident with Delon, Europe’s famous trigger happy cop during the Beaucoup de Soleil à Paris heist, and the fiasco with the assassin Scorpion at the start of the Faberge Egg case of course). If Kuroba was Kid, as Saguru suspected, then the magician was likely used to being shot at on occasion - and didn’t that leave a bad taste in the half-Brit’s mouth? But if that was the case, what was it about this most recent incident that the thief still remained uneasy several days after the fact?

Saguru had started digging, reviewing every Kid case file (both old and new) for hints of any presence of one or more unauthorized gunmen on site. There had been more cases than Saguru initially imagined, but what was most troubling was the fact that a majority of these reports of suspected gunmen weren’t documented in the official case files, but in the attached memos, notes, and individual officer statements in the physical paper copies.  These were often overlooked because the details hadn’t made it into the official report and, therefore, weren’t in the electronic case files.

Saguru couldn’t help but think back to the “hypothetical” question Kid had asked him about a crime ring with contacts working inside the police. That question had been almost too specific, in spite of Kid’s rather casual delivery.  Saguru wasn’t sure what Kid was involved in or why there were gunmen at Kid heists to begin with, but someone was covering something up. The problem was that Saguru couldn’t be sure if it was Kid himself or someone within the police in league with an outside party - namely the gunmen taking pot shots at his thief. Maybe it was both.  Whatever the situation, Saguru knew he had to be wary in how he proceeded. If there were dirty cops at the station altering official police reports then he couldn’t afford to tip them off, but by the same turn, he couldn’t tip Kid off as to what he was investigating either. 

Kid may trust him more than he had half a year ago, but it was a fragile trust. The moment Kid thought that Saguru was getting too close to something pertaining to his civilian identity or to anything dangerous he may or may not be involved in, he’d cut him off. The post-heist meetings with Kid would stop and Kuroba Kaito would do his best to keep his distance. Saguru could continue opposing him at heists and play his games so long as he didn’t break the status quo. If Saguru dug deeper with his investigation into these mysterious gunmen showing up at heists, he could break that rule and ruin everything he’d invested in these meetings and the companionship (he wouldn’t dare call it friendship) that they’d developed over time.

At the moment Saguru was stuck. This was why he both loved and hated being a detective. The high that came with a challenge of making sense of the clues was addictive, but he didn’t get to be as good as he was or live as long as he had by openly chasing after every lead. He was cautious and methodical and could become very paranoid (especially when Kid was involved). It was one of the setbacks of being a private detective. As much as he respected cops like Inspector Nakamori and his father, he’d known and dealt with a lot of bad ones and knew that not everyone could be trusted. 

In the end, he could continue digging and investigate the gunmen sightings, but that might alert whoever was editing the unknown gunmen out of the official Kid heist reports, whether that was Kid himself or another party. On the other hand, he could let the investigation sit for a while and continue as he was, meeting with Kid after heists until he learned more about the situation, though he wasn’t holding his breath that Kid would reveal much. If anyone was more methodical, cautious, and paranoid than he was, it was Kid.  Option number two seemed to be the better choice as things currently stood. He wasn’t even sure what he should be investigating in regards to these mysterious gunmen. All he knew was that they’d been been shadowing Kid for years, back to the time before Kaitou Kid’s mysterious eight-year disappearance. He needed more variables and information before he dug any deeper. At the moment, all he could do was keep an eye on Kuroba and Kid and wait for something to come to light.

Saguru, Kuroba, and Akako played with Kyou at the park until the sun began to set, at which point they walked her back to her aunt’s shop and continued on to the train station. When they got back to Ekoda they went their separate ways, but the entire way home, Saguru felt as if he were being watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SR: Oh wow, has it really been 4 months?! How did that happen? Sorry for the super long wait you guys. Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter. We'll do our best to get our next chapter out without such a long wait again. You probably already noticed, but due to the fact that it HAS been a long time since we last updated and we're now halfway through the new year, we won't been syncing our story with real time anymore like we did at the beginning. Fic wise, we're in March and our next chapter will pick up on or around White Day.
> 
> MG: We're looking forward to some lighter shenanigans in the next chapter, which should be exciting! After the last couple of chapters, some fun and romantic encounters are definitely in order :D
> 
> SR: Agreed! Thanks for reading again, you guys, and we hope you enjoyed this most recent chapter and are looking forward to the next one and please don't forget to leave a review!


	11. The Trust Exercise Challenge (Part 1)

SAGURU

The morning of March 14 th proved to be a busy one. Saguru hadn’t made the mistake of accepting every Valentine gift offered to him from his school mates like he had last year, but even so, he’d still been unable to turn away a sizable number of them. Twenty-three. Twenty-five if he included the ones he’d received from Aoko and Akako. Four of them had been from boys (one left to him anonymously in his shoe locker and three given privately).

His father had been snickering at him while he was putting together a second bag to carry all of his White Day return gifts. They were all different and personalized of course. Just because he’d received more than a few didn’t mean that he was going to be cheap or uncaring and give everyone the same return gift.

“Breaking more hearts, son? How does your thief cope with you having all of these admirers? Doesn’t he get jealous?” his father asked.

Saguru leveled an unamused look at him. His father had been making comments like that ever since they’d discovered Ichikawa's Sapphire ring in Saguru’s morning bowl of Frosted Flakes three months ago. “Are you ever going to let that go?”

“Only when it stops being funny or your scheming mother is around,” Akira Hakuba said with a beaming grin. “Only Kami knows what that woman would do if she ever learned that her son was consorting with a gentleman thief. The poor bloke would have it rough for sure. She’d have him running for the hills and then where would you be? Bored and alone, that’s where.”

“I’m more concerned with the fact that you, the Superintendent of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, continue to blather on about how I am supposedly – as you put it – consorting with a thief,” Saguru drawled.

“I do not blather,” Hakuba Sr. huffed. “And you know very well how terrifying your mother can be when she gets an idea into her head. If she thinks you’re dating the Kaitou Kid she’ll plan your whole life out from your marriage and honeymoon, to how many children you’re going to have, and where and when the two of you will retire.”

Saguru nearly sent his bag crashing to the floor, his face a livid red.

“Otousan!” he practically screeched.

“What? It’s true,” the elder man said gravely. “Oh to be young. You’ve grown up so fast. Your mother and I shall mourn the fact that you are no longer our precious baby boy and then she’ll help you pick out your wedding dress.”

“WHY THE HELL AM I THE BRIDE?!” Saguru shrieked.

“Because Kid is a gentleman and he already has the white suit,” Hakuba Sr. said evenly and with a completely straight face.

“ HE’S THE CROSSDRESSER! AND SINCE WHEN ARE WE ENGAGED?! WHY ARE WE EVEN HAVING THIS CONVERSATION?! WHY ARE YOU EVEN THINKING ABOUT THIS?! HE’S A  THIEF ! I’M A  DETECTIVE ! THE IDEA OF ANY KIND OF RELATIONSHIP OTHER THAN RIVALRY BETWEEN US IS LAUGHABLE AND IMPROBABLE AND BELONGS IN WORKS OF FANTASY AND TAKUMI-KUN’S FAN FICTION!”

Saguru took a deep breath, gathered up his school bag and the bag containing his White Day return gifts and stormed out of the kitchen to the front entry, shoving his feet into his shoes.

“I think he doth protest too much,” he heard his father chuckle.

“I think you pushed too far, sir,” Baaya commented.

“I’m just trying to be a supportive father.”

“Pardon me, sir, but I call ‘bullshit’, as the young people say.”

“He knows I was only pulling his leg.”

“Only pulling his leg, sir, or looking for a reaction?”

“Why, whatever do you mean, Baaya?”

Saguru didn’t wait around to hear any more. He’d be getting to school even earlier than usual, but that was all right. He just wanted to get away from his father and their mortifying conversation. He spent that time slipping most of his return gifts into their respective recipient’s shoe locker. These were done mostly for those recipients that weren’t in his class or grade level, and for those who’d slipped him their valentines anonymously. If they didn’t wish for it to be known that they’d given him a valentine, then he was more than happy to return the favor in kind. After having delivered a majority of his White Day gifts, Saguru headed to his homeroom, handing out the remaining return gifts to his classmates as they arrived for class.

He was surprised when a good number of his classmates (boys and girls) gave him White Day gifts as well in return for the baked goods he’d brought to class Valentine’s Day. He’d known that some might feel the same traditional sense of duty as Akako and Kyou, but he hadn’t expected a majority of the class to do the same. Aoko had given him one of the scarves he’d seen her knitting since classes resumed after winter break. Takumi had given him a small box of lemon bars – he must have mentioned that they were a favorite of his once. As for Akako…

When they were alone for a moment before joining Aoko and the others for lunch, Akako brought out his White Day gift. He couldn’t help staring at the stuffed dog – its coloring indicating that it was supposed to be either a beagle or a basset hound, but looked like something in-between – dressed in an inverness coat and cap. Where the hell had she been keeping this thing?!

“From Kyou-chan,” Akako explained. “His name is Sherlock. I helped her make the coat and cap, but  this ,” she thrust a small brown non-descript paper package into his hands, “is from me.”

Saguru opened the package and snorted in amusement, pulling out a long black cord with the tip of his index finger so that the pendant hanging from it dangled in front of him. At first it looked like a simple cross carved into a circle of wood, but upon closer inspection there were fine etchings in the wood making up a number of symbols and glyphs he didn’t understand or recognize. A few were familiar, but not like anything he’d ever seen Akako use or write before in relation to her witchcraft.

“Nothing that would go against your religion, I assure you. Merely a few old wards and charms based off of old Roman and Celtic text. It’s carved out of wood from an old yew tree in a churchyard in Gloucestershire, or so I’ve been reassured,” Akako explained, stumbling a bit over the pronunciation of the old English town name. “Yew is used to enhance magical and psychic abilities, and is said to induce visions. An old acquaintance of mine still owed me a favor and procured the wood for me. Another carved and whittled out the cross and I did the spell work. Now you should be protected by Western magics as well as Eastern.”

“…Thank you,” Saguru said, smiling softly as he slipped the black cord over his head and tucked the pendant underneath his shirt where it rested over his heart with the omamori that Kyou had given him several months back. “My return present pales in comparison to such a gift.”

“Nonsense,” Akako huffed, taking his offered arm as he escorted her to where they were supposed to be meeting the others for lunch. “I am exceedingly fond of the hair clips you gave me and the truffles are sure to be delicious, but if you feel that strongly about it you can take me out to dinner, or – better yet – cook me dinner.”

Saguru chuckled. “I would be delighted to have your company this evening, though we’ll be eating out I’m afraid. As of this morning I am avoiding my father.”

“Oh? Why?”

“He is being facetious and unreasonable.”

“About what?”

Saguru pursed his lips.

“Ah, of course. Kid, right?” she said, looking even more amused. She’d already heard a good number of Saguru’s rants about his father’s jesting.

“It’s escalating,” he said tersely.

“Aww~! Is he already planning your wedding? I better be your Maid of Honor. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure your mother chooses the perfect dress for you. Better yet, I’ll design it. I’ll make sure that it’s simplistic enough in design, but teetering on that borderline between modest and scandalous. Kid will be too mesmerized staring at you to perform his usual disappearing act and leave you at the altar.”

“Not you too! Why the hell am I the bride?”

“Who’s a bride?”

It was only out of sheer force of will that Saguru didn’t jump at the sound of Kuroba’s voice. He hadn’t realized that they were approaching the others. Thankfully they only appeared to have caught that last word or two of his outburst.

“I am,” Akako said beaming, not missing a beat, scooting close to Saguru and hugging his arm to her side. “Saguru-kun’s just proposed after professing his undying love for me. I said yes of course. We’re going to honeymoon in Paris and then settle down somewhere in the English countryside where we can host tea parties and have a dozen children. Aoko-chan, I want you to be my Maid of Honor, and Keiko and Haruka-chan my bridesmaids.”

Silence met this announcement, all of them staring with gobsmacked expressions. There were quite a few others watching as well. Many of the male students looked like they were ready to burst into tears.

“Are… Are you serious?” Hayashi squeaked.

“No,” Saguru scowled, looking disapprovingly at Akako.

“Spoilsport,” Akako pouted.

The male students burst into a chorus of relieved sighs and sobs.

 

KAITO

Kaito spent the first two periods of the day on the roof, itching to go home and take his glider out.  He was furious at Koizumi again today, but this time not because of her witchy ways.  Lately they’d kept things polite and Kaito had even tried to make gestures of not-hatred, but today when she’d played that tasteless joke on her poor admirers – gods help them – Kaito suddenly snapped back to the days when she’d been after his soul, days when he couldn’t stand being in the same room as her.  It was a good thing that Hakuba had spoiled the deception quickly, or half their class would have been heartbroken (and half the school by the end of lunch gossip).

Just shuffling a deck wasn’t enough to keep his hands sufficiently occupied today.  Kaito withdrew rolls of colored string (which were useful for tricks as well as entertaining his doves) from his voluminous pockets and started braiding them together.  Maybe if he worked at it long enough, he might stop thinking about his fierce overreaction to what was, in retrospect, just Koizumi with her eccentric sense of humor.

He shivered.  Ugh.  The idea of Koizumi having a brood of little witchlings toddling around was honestly terrifying.

“Kaito?”  He looked up from his knots to see Aoko framed in the doorway.  “Is something wrong?”

“Huh?  I skip class a lot.  What makes you think something’s wrong?”

She sat down beside him.  “Because Aoko knows her best friend better than you think and you didn’t look well when you hopped out the window.  So what is it?”

“Wait, you waited  two periods to come and look for me when you thought something was wrong?  I’m offended.”

“BaKaito, Aoko gave you two periods to figure things out alone.”

“Did I miss anything interesting?”

“The classroom was quiet.  Aoko thinks that Sensei never knows what to do with a perfectly behaved class,” she teased.  “We were missing an idiot.”  Smile fading, she nudged him.  “So what’s going on?”

“Nothing big.  I’ve been busy lately.  Tired.  I’ve been working on some new tricks,” he offered.  As always, Kid had an impending heist.

“Tricks make you happy,” she pointed out.  “Is Kaito having girl problems?”

“What?  Girl problems?  No.  Why would you ask that?”  Girls were literally the last thing on his mind right now.  He had more important things, like finding Pandora and working on Hakuba’s latest challenge.

“You were kinda secretive about going shopping for White Day presents this year.  You used to ask me what I thought the girls would want.  I thought maybe there was someone special this year and you wanted to keep it quiet until you talked to her.  Did it go badly?”

Correct initial idea, wrong conclusion.  Kaito  was being cagey about return presents, but it was because he hadn’t been planning to go shopping for Hakuba’s return gift with Aoko.  It was weird for a guy to get a White Day present for another guy, right?  “There’s no hidden meaning there, Ahoko.  White Day’s just boring.  I do the return gifts and that’s the end of it.”

He’d taken a while to decide on something for Hakuba, longer than he had on the other return gifts.  Kaito had contemplated going with something related to Sherlock Holmes, but honestly, Hakuba probably got a lot of Holmes-themed gifts.  The last thing he needed to be was predictable.   Kid  would have bought him a bottle of hair dye remover just to see the look on Hakuba’s face when the implications of the gift set in.  The detective would no doubt glare when he realized that there was a hair dye prank in his future.

“Hmm.”   Aoko didn’t sound convinced.  “Well, on a completely unrelated note,” she began in a tone that said the two things were most definitely related, “Want to get a group together and hang out over the weekend?  Aoko heard they’re having a promotion at Tropical Land for large parties.  Aoko is sure we could get eight or nine people together for it.”

Kaito smiled.  This was her way of trying to cheer him up.  “You think so?”

“Of course.  Everyone will go together and you won’t have to think about the girl that’s on your mind, okay?”

“Sure.  Let’s do that.”  No point in saying there was no girl on his mind.

“Great.  You’ll feel better after a day out.  Aoko will even let you check the invite list so we don’t bring her with us.  With that taken care of, everything should be fine.  What are the chances you’d run into her there, right?”

“Pretty low.”  None, actually, since there was no such person.

“It’ll be a lot of fun, and there’s a limit to how much trouble someone could get into at an amusement park.”

Kaito let himself be coaxed back to the classroom.  He made sure to let a mischievous grin cross his face as he entered, and he practically felt the class shiver.  There, now they probably thought he working on a new trick rather than unraveling his inexplicable negative reaction to Koizumi.  At lunch he had left his White Day gift, and Hakuba’s shoe cubby may as well not have been locked for all the trouble it gave Kaito.  He probably wouldn’t be around when Hakuba found the present, but it wouldn’t take a detective to figure out where the two expansion packs for Cards Against Humanity came from.  Kaito had also picked up a starter deck for himself, intrigued by the description Hakuba had given him of the game, and was instantly thrilled with the gleefully warped sense of humor the cards presented.

 

Aoko put the whole amusement park outing together with surprising speed, and before Kaito knew it they were waiting outside Tropical Land on Saturday morning for the rest of their group to arrive.  Kaito spotted blonde hair and checked his watch – was Hakuba ten minutes early instead of exactly on time? Was he ill?

It became clear when both Hakuba and Koizumi came into view, chatting pleasantly as they walked over together.  Some of that ugly feeling came back, but Kaito pushed it aside in favor of a grin.  “Something wrong with your watch again?”

Hakuba flashed him a dirty look.  “I didn’t appreciate it the last time you took it upon yourself to tamper with my possessions.”

Kaito assumed his most innocent expression.  “Who, me?”

“I was late to an appointment, Kuroba.”

“What on  earth makes you think it was  me? ”

Aoko interrupted the mounting argument.  “Kaito, behave!”  He backed off.  Hakuba wasn’t paying attention to Koizumi anymore, so his whim was satisfied.  Having that attention for himself felt good.

Kaito blinked in surprise and purposely blanked his mind.  No, he was not thinking about the reason behind that emotion.  He’d been skirting around it for a while now, letting the half-formed thought just sit. If he didn’t focus on it, it might go away when he wasn’t looking.

Think about mundane things.  Working on magic tricks.  Playing with his doves.  Writing heist notes.  Hanging out with Aoko –

Like he was doing right now.  Yes, this was supposed to be a day to not think about things and just  be with other people.

The rest of their classmates trickled in and they paid for their tickets as the park opened.  Kaito hadn’t been to Tropical Land in over half a year, and the new brochure promised some kickass rides.  He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.  “Alright, our first stop is gonna be the rollercoasters, right?”  The free-fall at the beginning had nothing on flying, but Kaito’s glider couldn’t do loops with the same speed that roller coaster cars achieved.

Hayashi laughed.  “Don’t you want to start out with the tame rides and work up to those?”

“BaKaito’s an adrenaline junkie.”

“Which surprises no one,” Hakuba finished, to the group’s laughter.

Kaito grinned at him.  “They’ve got a Mystery Coaster now, Hakuba-kun.”

“I’ll pass.”

“Ooh, I bet you lose your cool on rollercoasters.  Don’t want anyone to hear you scream your head off?”

Hakuba rolled his eyes.  “Just not interested.  I don’t see what you enjoy about them.”

“You scared?”

“I’m not going to fall for that rather obvious attempt to challenge me.”

Kaito leaned in, feeling a little more of Kid slip into his voice than was probably safe.  “Are you saying you don’t like a challenge, detective?”  Kaito could easily deny that he was referencing anything, but now Hakuba’s mind was probably running through how best to answer him.  He couldn’t say “I don’t like challenges” because, well, he believed that Kaito was Kid and the kaitou would probably think of an appropriately difficult challenge if he lied.  However, if he said, “I do like challenges,” then he’d be implicitly agreeing to take Kaito’s dare.

Hakuba sighed dramatically.  “If you needed someone to go with you, Kuroba-kun, you could’ve just said so.  I can’t imagine you’re the only one who’s afraid of going on a rollercoaster alone.”  He’d sidestepped the issue.

“Oh please, I’m planning to hit all the rollercoasters today with or without you all.”

“Hey, are you two coming?”  Kaito’s attention snapped to the rest of the group, who were headed off towards the bumper cars.  They must have decided while Kaito and Hakuba were talking.

The two trailed after their friends.  “I notice you didn’t answer my question, Hakuba-kun.”

Kaito’s classmate threw him a glance.  “Magicians are generally pretty good at reading people.  I’m sure you know the answer.”

 

SAGURU

Idiot. As if he was going to admit anything regarding to their post heist meetings. He didn’t want Kuroba going into his “I’m not Kid” tirade either, so he’d kept his reply vague. Thankfully Kuroba let the matter drop and they got in line for the bumper cars with the others. By group vote, it was decided that they would continue around the park by sections and ride the rides as they came up. Because Dream and Fairytale Land made up the first section of the park they spent their time on the more kiddy rides first like the Tea Cups and the Flying Eagles ride that reminded Saguru of the Dumbo ride his mother always somehow talked him into going on with her whenever they visited Disneyland Paris.

After they’d explored the east half of the section, they moved on to Horror and Mystery Land where Kuroba managed to talk most of the members of their group into going on the Mystery Coaster first. Saguru included. He was surprised, though, when Kuroba cut past Akako to take the seat next to Saguru as they boarded, leaving Akako and Aoko to sit together behind them. Saguru raised an eyebrow at the other.

“Just wanted to make sure that I’d be able to hear you scream,” the imp said with a wink.

Saguru frowned. “Just because I prefer not to ride rollercoasters doesn’t mean that I’m afraid to go on them.”

“Suuure~!”

Saguru didn’t scream once over the course of the ride. He hadn’t been able to hold back a small gasp at the first drop, however. It wasn’t that he was afraid of heights, or the speeds that the ride got up to as it went racing down the tracks, or even the sensation of the ride’s G forces exerted on him during sharp turns and loops, but the sensation of freefall that started with a steep drop like this one was always something that unnerved him. Saguru was afraid of falling. He’d seen too many cases where victims had been pushed from various heights, or fallen over ledges or from tampered equipment not to be. The end result of a body splattered like a human water balloon on the ground always left him with a weak stomach.

“That was awesome!” Saiki was saying as they got off the ride.

“I’m sure it was,” Hayashi chuckled. He had been the only boy in their group that hadn’t gone on the ride, staying with his girlfriend and Takumi. Neither girl liked going on rollercoasters apparently.

Kuroba bounced up to Hayashi. “Who turns down a ride like the Mystery Coaster?”

“One that considers how his girlfriend feels about going on such rides,” Hayashi sniffed.

“Aww!” Kanami cooed. “Aren’t you the cutest? You could have gone, Raito-kun. I wouldn’t have minded. I had Haruka-chan to keep me company.”

“Yes, well…” Hayashi blushed.

“He wouldn’t have gone anyway, Kanami-chan,” Saiki laughed. “Raito-kun is afraid of heights.”

“Just like Hakuba-kun,” Kuroba smirked. “He was so scared he couldn’t scream. He even closed his eyes during that first drop.”  Hakuba leveled an unamused look at him.

“He looked perfectly fine,” Aoko pointed out.

“How could you tell? You were too busy screaming. I nearly went deaf you were so loud.”

When they came to another rollercoaster, Saguru waited with Takumi, Hayashi and Kanami. Akako hung back with him at the back of the group when the others returned and they proceeded to the next ride.

“Something bothering you? You’ve been awfully quiet since the Mystery Coaster,” Akako observed.  “Was that your first rollercoaster?  Kuroba-kun wasn’t lying when he said that you shut your eyes during that first drop.”

“Of course not,” Saguru snorted. “I’ve ridden my fair share of rollercoasters. My mom and I go to Disneyland Paris every year in the fall after fashion week. As a kid it was my reward for behaving while she worked, or so she claimed.”

Akako chuckled. “Will you be leaving sometime this autumn then, to be with her?”

“Who knows?” Saguru sighed. “I didn’t go last year because I’ve been living here and chasing the Kid for a little over two years now, though, so there’s always the possibility that she might decide to come to Tokyo and…  persuade me to come along to the Disney parks here instead. She’d be able to spend time with my father if she did that.”

“And maybe make a family trip out of it?” Akako asked with a knowing grin.

Saguru thought of his father, whom he was still making an effort to avoid spending overly long durations of quality time with, and shuddered as he imagined both of his parents ganging up on him.  Especially  if his father slipped up about Kid and that damn incident with Ichikawa's Sapphire.

“Joy,” he said dryly.

“Hakuba-nii-chan?”

Saguru blinked in surprise, looking over on his left, and spotted the small form of the highly intelligent seven-year-old, Edogawa Conan. He was even more surprised to see Hattori Heiji and Co. as well.

“Yo, Hakuba-kun.” Hattori smirked. “Fancy running inta  you here. Didn’t even think ya were loose enough ta enjoy a day atta theme park.”

“Heiji! Yer bein’ rude!” Toyama Kazuha scolded before addressing Saguru. “Sorry ‘bout him. I’m Toyama Kazuha, this ahou’s friend.”

“Hakuba Saguru. It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m sure, Toyama-san,” Saguru said with his best charming smile and bowed in greeting before turning to greet the other members of their party. “Conan-kun. Mouri-kun.”

Hattori narrowed his eyes at Saguru, probably trying to puzzle out whether or not Saguru had been subtly rude to his friend or flirting with her. Neither assumption was right of course, but – then again – for whatever reason, Hattori had never had a favorable opinion of Saguru to begin with.

“Hello, Hakuba-kun,” Mouri Ran replied, bowing back.

“Who’s yer friend?” Hattori asked, eyeing Akako with interest. Too much interest if the elbow Toyama jabbed into his side was any indication.

“I am Koizumi Akako,” the witch said with a charming smile of her own. “Saguru-kun and I are classmates.”

“Who have a bad habit of separating from the group.”

Akako and Saguru jumped a bit in surprise and turned around to find Aoko glaring at them with annoyance while the other members of their group chuckled and snickered slightly behind her.

“Ah, sorry, Aoko-chan,” Akako laughed. “Saguru-kun ran into some acquaintances of his.”

“Figures,” Kuroba scoffed.

“Oi, yer that guy from Tokyo Tower,” Hattori said with a frown as he eyed Kuroba. “Kuro-something, right?”

“Kuroba,” Kuroba corrected. “Kuroba Kaito.”

“You’ve met them before?” Aoko asked, looking at her friend curiously.

“In passing.” Kuroba shrugged. “It was when I found Benoit-chan at Tokyo Tower.”

“Ah! You mean Hakuba-kun’s cousin?” Aoko beamed, turning to Saguru.

“Cousin?” Toyama repeated.

“You’ve met Renee, Toyama-kun?” Saguru asked, feigning surprise and ignorance. 

“I took pictures fer her at Tokyo Tower,” Toyama grinned. “How has she been?”

“Alright, I guess,” Saguru shrugged. “She texts every now and then. Recently she’d been sending me pictures of her in the steampunk cosplay she made. There’s a huge convention of some kind going on right now in Paris that she’s attending.”

“So she’s an otaku?”

“More or less,” Saguru grimaced.

“She looks a lot like you,” Akako noted. “You could be twins.”

“For the love of God, if you ever meet her,  never say that.” Saguru shuddered. “She’ll get  ideas .”

Kuroba smirked. “Like she did at Halloween?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Saguru said stiffly.

“I have photo evidence that proves otherwise.”

“Should I be worried that you stalk my facebook fan page, Kuroba-kun?” Saguru drawled, leveling an unamused look at the magician as he proceeded to switch on his phone and show Hattori’s group the Link and Zelda cosplay Saguru and Renee did three years ago for London Comic Con.

“I do  not  stalk,” Kuroba huffed, but Saguru was curious to note that there was a slight tint of pink in his cheeks. “I did research.”

“And that doesn’t sound stalker-ish at  all ,” Aoko snickered.

“Shut up.”  The two proceeded to get into another squabble and, somehow, Hattori and his group ended up joining theirs as they made their way around the park. Toyama and Mouri asked Saguru questions about his experience with cosplay and Hayashi and Kanami talked about how he should consider joining Ekoda High’s drama club costume department. Saguru wasn’t sure if it was a relief or not when, around two o’clock while at a café in Adventure and Pioneer Land, a case suddenly popped up.

Why was it that whenever he happened to be around Edogawa and Hattori that a case always came up? It appeared to be a regular occurrence for the Osakan and young primary school detective whenever they got together, if the resigned and annoyed looks on Toyama and Mouri’s faces were anything to go by.

“At least we actually made it to Tropical Land this time,” Mouri pouted as they sat back and watched Hattori and Edogawa work the crime scene.

“No kiddin’,” Toyama grumbled. “At least it ain’t an arsonist.”

“You think it’s another poisoning?”

“Gotta be. Why else would tha guy go out like that?”

“Not going to join them, Hakuba?” Kuroba asked, looking surprised to see that Saguru hadn’t immediately jumped in to examine the victim and the crime scene like he had last time at Tokyo Tower when he’d been dressed as Renee.

Saguru didn’t say anything, eyes sweeping over the scene and the people who had been seated with and around the victim. After taking in the scene as a whole he approached the body and began to examine the corpse.

Male. Roughly 25-30 years old. Height: approximately 170 centimeters. Weight: around 90 kilograms. Black hair. Brown eyes. Wore transition lens prescription sunglasses. Married. Wearing a clean plain black t-shirt, jeans, black and white sneakers, and a simple gold band wedding ring. No unnatural skin discoloration currently visible, but some frothing at the mouth.

“Any ID?” Saguru asked Hattori.

“Yeah. Nice’v ya ta join tha party,” Hattori muttered as he flipped open victim’s wallet to show Saguru the driver’s license.

Hitachi Makoto. Age 27. Would have turned 28 next month.

“Ah le le?” Edogawa chirped, turning over the victim’s left arm, revealing a small puncture wound there.

“So he was injected,” Hattori muttered as the police arrived on the scene and started to cordon off the area and take over the case.

“Not necessarily,” Saguru told him and the lead investigator, Inspector Megure. They’d met a few times, but not enough to make much of an impression it seemed, as the Inspector always turned to consult with Hattori. He had the man’s undivided attention now, though. “The injection site looks too clean and shows no sign of irritation. A poison corrosive enough to cause the mouth to foam and blister inside would show some sign if it were injected. My belief is that our victim ingested the poison.”

“How’d yeh know his mouth has blisters?” Hattori frowned. “Ya haven’t even touched tha body.”

“There’s some blood and reddening around his lips,” Saguru pointed out where the foam coming from the victim’s mouth was starting to thin and run off. “Whatever he was given it was highly toxic and was more than likely not on his plate for long before he ate it. Look at his burger. It’s starting to show signs of breaking down.”

It was true. The victim’s partially eaten burger was starting to decompose a bit, juice and grease soaking the bun and staining the cardboard container it was in.

A little over an hour later it was discovered that the poison had been in a hot sauce container the victim carried around with him and that the injection site that Edogawa had found on the body earlier had been from a vaccination shot that the victim had received that morning before coming to the park. The murderer turned out to be the victim’s best friend who’d been in love with the deceased’s wife and believed that she had been manipulated and taken from him.

Saguru’s classmates chattered excitedly as they left to continue their day at Tropical Land.

“You know,” Akako mused, “I think that was the first time I’ve ever seen you work a case that wasn’t the Kaitou Kid’s. I’m surprised.”

“Oh? About what?” Saguru asked.

“You didn’t jump right in like Hattori-san and Edogawa-kun,” Aoko piped up. “And even afterwards you kept a bit of a distance.”

Saguru shrugged. “With Conan-kun and Hattori-kun examining the scene from close up and keeping others from approaching the body, I was able to keep back and take in the scene as a whole. I see things better from a distance. What’s the point of focusing on all of the tiny details if you can’t fit them into the big picture?”

“It allowed ya ta spot things that Heiji didn’t, that’s fer sure,” Toyama grinned, ignoring her friend’s annoyed look.

“Hey, Hakuba-nii-san, what made you suspect the friend so fast?” Conan asked.

“He kept shifting his hands in his pockets,” Saguru explained, “and his eyes kept returning to the bottle of Tabasco sauce next to the victim’s place setting. As the victim’s best friend, he’d know about victim’s habit of applying hot sauce to a lot of his foods.”

“So would tha victim’s wife,” Hattori pointed out. “She could’a done it too.”

“Perhaps,” Saguru reasoned. “But because the victim’s clothes weren’t wrinkled and showed signs of being well washed, and the number of photos of the two of them together on both of their cellphones, I guessed that they had been maintaining a loving relationship.”

“Why were the clothes such a big clue?” Aoko asked.

“How many men do you know that take the time to regularly fold or hang up their clothes, let alone iron them?” Saguru asked. At this Mouri and Aoko sighed and shook their heads, undoubtedly thinking about their fathers. “Hitachi-san’s clothes had no excessive wrinkles or creases that form when one simply folds quickly and stuffs their clothes in a dresser drawer, meaning his wife must have done his laundry.”

When the few last details about the case were tied up, the group moved on to the rest of their day.

 

KAITO

Kaito was surprisingly calm for being in the presence of the three biggest threats to Kid.

To be accurate, Hattori hadn’t actually attended a heist yet, but if he was on par with Hakuba and Edogawa – as the files from the Detective Koushien and Kaito’s own observations from today’s case suggested – he could also pose a hazard to the kaitou in the future.

During the day it hadn’t been much of an issue, since Hattori and the pest didn’t pay much attention to him when everyone was in such a big group, but now,  now it was a little different.  Toyama and Mouri had gotten on frighteningly well with Aoko and Keiko, so much so that when Koizumi suggested that they make the Ferris wheel from Science and Space Land the last ride of the night, the five girls immediately clustered together to get a passenger car together.  From the look of it, Hattori had been planning to pass on the ride, but after some heckling from Toyama suggesting he was afraid, he muttered that he’d join too.  The tiny soccer monster had been tagging along with Hattori all day, so it wasn’t a surprise that he got in line behind the other detective.

It was only after the girls got into their car and Saiki left to buy a water bottle that Kaito realized he was going to be in a confined space with the three detectives.  Whoo boy.  He ducked into the car and tried not to eye the surrounding bars with too much wariness.  But again, he was calm.  Hakuba sidled in next and took a seat next to him, and the other two detectives took the bench opposite.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as the ride operator locked the door and started up the ride, followed by some throat-clearing and mutterings about the weather.

Kaito, who knew how to break the ice in a variety of situations and who never passed up an opportunity to cause a bit of trouble, grinned pleasantly and began, “You know, I don’t think you three have mentioned how you all met each other.”

Hakuba scoffed.  “I’m sure you know.”  Then, probably for the benefit of the other two investigators who weren’t in on Hakuba’s theory about Kaito being Kid, he added, “I know you read the papers.”

“Must have missed that one.”

Hattori spoke up.  “Ku- Conan-kun and I ran into Hakuba-kun durin’ a gathering of high school detectives.”

“Oh?  And the reason you and Hakuba-kun don’t seem to get along?  Did someone disagree about the time of death or take credit for someone else’s work?”

“Yer buddy here jumped ta some conclusions about me.”

Hakuba defended himself.  “Which you then proved correct by breaking the window and spraying glass all over a crime scene.”

“Impatient is not tha same thing as incompetent.”  Hattori looked indignant.

Mischief managed.  As the two high school detectives began to exchange barbs, he sat back to watch.  Hattori was just as Kaito remembered from last time, and he lined up pretty well with the reports of him from cases he’d worked.  Kaito focused on memorizing the little habits and tells Hattori had when he was agitated.  If Hattori ever came to a heist, more information about him couldn’t hurt.

Out of the corner of his eye Kaito saw Edogawa raised a hand to cover a yawn, and he turned to the youngest investigator.  It was the first time that Kaito had ever seen him relaxed.  Detectives tended to be hyper-vigilant at heists even during the lulls in activity.  Maybe it was the real and imagined distance from the world that the Ferris wheel provided, maybe it was the presence of his friend, but Edogawa seemed content, like a regular kid surrounded by his peers.  Normal, almost, if one didn’t consider the fact that the peers were ten years his senior.

Kaito’s attitude towards the little menace was one part amusement, one part irritation, and two parts grudging respect.  For a seven-year-old, his brilliance bordered on terrifying, but he was  interesting .  He liked the little rapport they had going between them and there were moments where he admitted that the little shit could have cornered him, if Edogawa weren’t so intent on having a fair battle between them.  And if he were less critical of Kid’s performances, Kaito might have actually really liked the kid.

“You set them off on purpose.  Why?”  Edogawa’s eyes were as sharp as usual, it seemed.

Kaito winked.  “Annoying Hakuba is one of my favorite hobbies, but it’s funnier when it’s not me he’s yelling at.  What about you?  What do you do for fun when you’re not out solving murders?”  Or getting in the way of perfectly harmless kaitou.

“Soccer and homework.”

“Boring.”

“What else do  you do, then?”

“I do magic, which is not boring.”

“I don’t know much about it,” Edogawa replied with a dismissive shrug, “but all the smoke and mirrors seems a bit too melodramatic to me.”

Says the kid who delivers the solutions to mysteries with the pacing and diction of a performer.  Kaito didn’t know  what Edogawa’s deal was, but he was definitely 300% a drama queen.  With a sharp smile, he responded, “I think you might be overly critical of magic as opposed to other activities that require illusion.  I’ve been led to believe that detectives look before they speak when they collect evidence.  It wouldn’t do to alert the murderer that you’re suspicious of them or discuss the information you find.  You talk to them and then wait until the end to accuse them.  That’s a form of misdirection, is it not?”

Kaito’s eyes were fixed on Edogawa, whose face darkened at the insinuation that magic and investigations were alike in any way.  “Detective work is about justice, not entertainment.”

“But who puts the wonder back into the world and smiles on people’s faces after a tragedy?”

“You’re equating two entirely different things.”

He smiled.  “Hmm, don’t you think sleight-of-hand would be good to know, as a detective?”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to suggest,” Edogawa answered, suspicious.

Kaito couldn’t very well come out and say that he’d been keeping occasional surveillance on Edogawa and thus knew how sneaky the little troublemaker could be, but he couldn’t drop the subject now.

Fortunately, he was saved from that line of questioning by a shout coming from one of the other Ferris wheel cabs.  “I swear,” Kaito began, leaning to look out at the cab behind them, “if someone shouts ‘he’s dead’ within the next ten seconds, I’m declaring the two of you detectives cursed.  I’ve met you exactly twice, and both times we’ve inexplicably run into a murder.”  He caught sight of the group in the next cab.  One of the kids was holding up an empty bottle as soda dripped down his neighbor’s shirt.  So, not a murder, then, just an overturned drink.

“Maybe it’s you that’s cursed,” Hattori pointed out.

“I happen to be a good friend of Lady Luck.”

“Quite the understatement” Hakuba added softly.

Kaito laughed.  “What exactly are you referring to, Hakuba-kun?”  But when Kaito turned to his classmate, expecting to see an exasperated expression at the thought of Kaito’s crazy magical antics in school, he saw instead complete seriousness.  There was something different in the way he looked at Kaito now, like he was watching someone far away.

He was thinking about Kid, wasn’t he?  That last phone call hung between them and the longer Kid went without having a heist, the more time Hakuba would have to think about the reasons behind the cancellation.  Hakuba didn’t know that Kid would continue to be in trouble until Pandora was found and he either had a public showdown with Snake’s organization or disappeared without a trace when his quest was complete.

As much as Kaito wanted Pandora destroyed and his burden lifted, Kid’s games with Hakuba had built Kaito an impossibly unusual friendship, one that was beginning to take up more and more of his attention. When Kid retired, what would become of what they’d created?  Kaito was becoming increasingly reluctant to let go of it.

Edogawa cleared his throat and Kaito jerked back, realizing belatedly that he’d been leaning in towards Hakuba.  He didn’t dare look back over at Hakuba, but it sounded like his classmate was resettling into his normal posture as well.

“If ya wanted a separate cab, ya coulda just said somethin’.”

“Nope, this is fine,” Kaito replied at the same time as Hakuba said “Not at all, I assure you.”

“Returning to the subject of cases,” Hakuba continued, “I don’t believe we ever discussed how many you’ve worked on, Conan-kun.”

“Yeah, cuz last time  someone was trying to one-up me by talkin’ about cases he took outside Japan.”

“I was simply stating the facts, and my curiosity was genuine both then and now.”

Edogawa tapped his chin, considering.  “I don’t actually know how many cases I’ve taken.  Most of the ones I work are murders, though there is the odd arson or Kid heist.”

Hattori looked between Hakuba and Edogawa before focusing on his friend.  “Both of ya have worked Kid heists, right?  Is it something I might be interested in trying my hand at?”

This was not the direction Kaito wanted the conversation to go in a locked space with three detectives.  Before Edogawa could answer, Kaito jumped in.  “Would you be able to cooperate with Hakuba-kun?  The officers would probably stick you together, since you’re both in high school.”  Perhaps that would dissuade Hattori, or maybe Kid could arrange for a harmless prank on the night of the heist.  Hakuba was generally overlooked by the older officers, and it would be inconvenient if he couldn’t leave his puzzle for Kid because there was another detective attached to him.

“Eh, I’ll go with Kudo, it’ll be fine.”  Hattori shrugged.

“Or me, since Shinichi-niichan is out of the country,” Edogawa pointed out.

Hattori paused just an instant too long before agreeing.  “Of course.”  He laughed.  “Maybe we could take Kid by surprise if a bunch of high school detectives mixed in with the fans.  We could get Sera-san too.”  Kaito repressed a shudder at the mention of Sera Masumi.  He’d had a bruise on his face for a full week after the Blush Mermaid heist.

“Kid keeps tabs on all of the detectives in the area,” Hakuba informed Hattori with a long-suffering sigh.  “There’s no way he doesn’t know about you and Sera-san.”  Plus, both Hakuba and Kaito knew that the detectives wouldn’t have the element of surprise.

Kaito grinned, trying not to let any smugness filter into his tone.  “The moment that you underestimate Kid-sama, you’ve already lost.”

Edogawa glowered, but didn’t deny it.  “Kid fan?”

“The biggest.”  And he’d timed it perfectly, since their cab came to a stop at the bottom and the door popped open, ending the conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MG: The summer just got away from us as we battled work schedules and computer difficulties, but here's another chapter!
> 
> SR: Sorry for the wait, but hopefully this chapter made up for it. We had a lot of fun writing this chapter's shenanigans. 
> 
> MG: Thanks for reading! We'd love if you left a comment!


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